


Green Meadow

by byzinha



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/M, Future Fic, Kid Fic, will add more characters as they show up
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-26
Updated: 2017-11-04
Packaged: 2018-12-20 07:02:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 43,305
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11915628
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/byzinha/pseuds/byzinha
Summary: or the one where Roy and Riza have a secret childT for cussing; a quick M scene in the first chapter and never again, promise





	1. Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> So. heh ~^^~ Once upon a time I told my friend I had this idea for a one-shot about a Royai secret baby and she was like "you gon write it wont you?" and I was like "NAH". Then, about a couple days after that, I started to write. And I SWEAR it was wanted to write a long ass one-shot, but now I ended up with a chapter fic with probably... eight? chapters. I don't know, we'll see. And now I'm posting it! hehe
> 
> Sorry, I'm late! I just watched the show (brotherhood) in July, and I'm still on manga #4, but boy if I don't love Royai! And I also love the idea of Parental!Royai+Elric Brothers, so you'll see lots of that dynamic here.
> 
> So here it is, a baby fic. I'm sure it's been overdone, but I just arrived and I guess it's alright if I write another "Royai have a baby" fic, huh? If everything goes according to the plan, I'll be posting a new chapter every couple of weeks, fingers crossed! My beta reader is **Jenna** (littlecajunlady), go check her works, guys, she's awesome - and she was the one who introduce me to the show.  
>  Hope you guys enjoy!
> 
>  **Disclaimer:** I have no rights over any of Arakawa's characters and I really shouldn't have, because I'd ruin the thing.

" _Now the wind is blowing, tell me where you're going, I'll be thinking of you.  
Go with what you're feeling, this is the beginning of a life you'd never recognize._"  
 _Beginning_  – Capital Cities

It started with a picture.

-xxx-

"What is it, Hawkeye?" Fuery asked from across the table, making Riza look up at him. The smile didn't leave her face, though, and she offered the photo she had been looking at.

"Ed," she said. "He sent a new family pic."

"Oh, really?" Havoc exclaimed and stopped chewing on his pen. "Lemme see."

He leaned closer to Fuery and soon the others joined, but Riza stayed in her seat, and so did Roy across the room.

"General, check it out!" Havoc got the picture and took it to Roy. "Stephen, it's the name of baby #3! Can you believe it? Three kids before they got to the age of 25."

"They are crazy," affirmed Breda.

Roy looked up from the pic in his hands and his eyes met Riza's. He had this smirk on his face that she loved and hated, and as Breda extended his argument against having kids so young and Falman lightly teased Havoc about waiting too long, Roy got up and attached the photo on the board they kept just for that kind of thing. It was filled with family photos and coffee stained notes of their little group, proving that their relationship went beyond the formalities of the military.

There were a  _lot_  of photos of the Elric Brothers on there. After coming back from the east, Al was approved as a State Alchemist responding directly to Mustang like his brother used to, but more focused on research than combat. The more recent pic was from a few months ago, at his wedding. It had been in Xing, with all the traditions of Mei's home country and it had been held at the Emperor's palace (it did help that Ling was close to the groom and also the bride's half-brother).

 _A few months ago…_  Riza made a face as she felt her stomach protest. That… was not good.

Making good use of the distraction of the men, she slipped out of the room and to the toilet, third time that day. She wondered why Winry didn't mind going through this over and over. Three kids before the age of 25, that  _was_ crazy. But then again, Riza was a certified murderer before the age of 25, so she guessed she wasn't supposed to be one to judge.

She washed her face and looked in the mirror. They needed a plan, and they needed it quickly. She couldn't do like Rebecca did and quit the military, and she knew Roy wouldn't either, not when he was so close to his goal. Riza had been trying to come up with something for almost a month already and ended up with no solutions at all, so it was time to think together.

-xxx-

Once upon a time, Riza Hawkeye decided she would not fall into bed with Roy Mustang again. That was right after Ishval, they were both military now and there were laws. But she asked him to burn the tattoos from her back and he stuck around for a week or two to make sure she was recovering alright and it just happened. It just happened many times a week for the past fourteen years.

Now, the master bedroom at Madam Christmas' building was their rendezvous, and that was where Riza was waiting for Roy after a long day of work, stabbing cubes of pineapple with a fork and covering them in peanut butter absentmindedly. Roy had a meeting that evening with Fuhrer Olivier Armstrong and some acquaintances that would form the party for the elections. He had opted to take Falman with him and Riza was glad about it, because she needed to eat that pineapple and peanut butter as soon as possible.

The election was not close, but Olivier had replaced Riza's grandfather the previous year with the objective of gradually introducing the democracy in Amestris, including opening the formations of parties for the upcoming election estimated for somewhere in the next 10 years. If everything went according to plan, Roy would be the Prime Minister of Amestris before the decade was over, as the right name for the transition coming from the military.

It was a little past eight when Roy arrived, smelling fresh and renewed, something that made Riza stop her fork midway to her mouth and raise an eyebrow.

"I thought your shitty house didn't have gas," she said as a way of hello; she had to use her lunch break to go pay his bill just that afternoon. He smirked.

"It doesn't," he said. "But the Armstrong manor does and Alex offered me one of their disturbingly gigantic bathrooms to wash off."

Riza frowned, chewing on her pineapple slowly and Roy tossed his jacket on the back of a chair before getting close to her. She sniffed suspiciously and was surprised to smell… nothing.

"You didn't use any scented soap," she said surprised, her mouth still a little full. That wasn't Riza's nature at all, but her condition made her a little ogre. Roy's smile only widened.

"I didn't," he said and kissed her forehead. "Didn't want to set you off again."

That had been her fear, for any strong perfume had been making her nauseous lately, to the point where she had to request Havoc to do field work sometimes, just because she couldn't handle his cologne. Riza smiled looking up at Roy, then.

"Well, thank you," she said gladly.

Roy gently took the fork from her, setting it on the counter.

"What are you having there?" he asked.

"Pineapple and peanut butter."

" _Really?_ "

Riza nodded slowly, keeping her eyes on his and he raised an eyebrow skeptically before he leaned in for a kiss.

"Huh," Roy scoffed on her lips.

"It's not half-bad, right?" she said and he didn't disagree.

"It really isn't," he confirmed. "Your cravings are getting less weird."

"Don't count on it, Sir," she said and pulled him by the front of his shirt, whispered something in his ear that made both his eyebrows go up. Under her touch, Riza felt his heartbeat increase.

" _Yes, Ma'am_ ," Roy said slowly when she was finished with a wet kiss on his jaw, and the five steps to the bed were covered in record time.

-xxx-

They had done it a thousand times, but Riza couldn't help the little squeal when Roy flipped them over, burying deep inside her with a grunt before he picked up the pace again. Her breathing came out in gasps, nails digging into the skin of his shoulders. Roy leaned down to kiss her, weighting on top of her; middle-sex kisses were always sloppy and salty with sweat, and her hands went down his sides and back, legs locking around his hips, slowing him down and she gasped tilting her head back, arching her back.

"Right there," she managed to say. Roy moved slowly, temptingly, kissing her neck.

"Hit the spot?" he asked, even though he didn't need to. He knew what she liked. She nodded vigorously, grasping at his back as he moved at the same time as he left wet kisses on her skin, his left hand tangling in her growing hair.

" _Yes_ ," she cried and bit her lip to contain a moan in vain.

Roy took his time; he had the right angle and the right rhythm, and now all he had to do was drive her. Under him, Riza couldn't stop the shivers that built in her core and went up her spine each and every time he moved. Fourteen years, plus the year after her father died meant that he knew exactly what to do. Her moans grew louder and shakier as she let loose like she couldn't do with anything else in her life, and the violence of her orgasm made her dizzy.

With a shaky hand, Riza pushed Roy off of her, closing her legs in ecstasy and gasping for air and he laid on his side, head on his hand, watching her come down from her high. She just had been  _so horny_  lately; it had been easy to make her come. She could tell Roy was loving it.

"Gosh, you're beautiful," he said with that damn smirk of his and Riza even had an answer for him, but she couldn't talk yet. Instead, she just hummed; her eyes were a little foggy and she shivered again, rubbing one thigh against the other. "Just so beautiful."

Riza let out a small chuckle then. She was a mess, that was for sure. Her hair was in that weird too-short-too-long length, she was completely sweaty and naked and there were stretch marks on the sides of her hips, but he didn't seem to mind, never did.

He reached out and touched her face, pushing back her hair in the process and she focused on him. Riza had had her share of boyfriends, but it was Roy who she always came back to, same way he always came back to her. He was the only one.

They kissed, nice and slowly at first as he rolled on top of her again, making himself comfortable.

"I'm not done yet," Roy said and she smiled again well aware.

"No?"

"Not even close."

She gave him passage, opening her legs again, letting him slide a hand down her thigh and lift her leg to his waist fixing the angle as he kissed her. Her body still hadn't fully recovered from the orgasm and she whimpered when he entered again. Hot damn, it felt good. He felt  _so good_.

Instead of building up a pace like he would normally do, Roy took it slow, kissed her lips tenderly, touched her lovingly, told her he loved her and she whispered the words back to him in a rare moment of vulnerability, bit on his shoulder, her fingers on his wet hair and down his sweaty back, tracing the edge of the burn on his side from that time she thought she had lost him forever.

Even then Riza knew well that she couldn't live without him, that there was no life without Roy Mustang helping ease the burden of the things she'd done. She loved him more than she loved herself and she knew he felt the same way. They just never showed it outside these four walls, or at least tried not to.

They laid with the sheets up to their hips after they were done for it was a surprisingly warm night of March in Central, Riza's head on Roy's chest listening to his heartbeat as he played with her hair. They had to work the next morning, but when it was only the two of them, time stretched.

"We need a plan," she said casually, fingers tracing the lines of his muscles.

"What for?" he asked and she refrained from rolling her eyes.

"You know what for," Riza replied and her hand automatically went to the small bump that was beginning to show. They had noticed only the previous week, Havoc declaring it a food belly after the big lunch they had, but they could never pass with that excuse in the long run, say that Riza was just getting fat, no one would buy it. She was too disciplined to slip like that.

Roy's hand rested on top of hers and he kissed her forehead. He was enjoying this. Riza knew he'd wanted kids, but he would never ask her to leave the military. They rarely slipped when it came to protection, except…

Except when Xingese weddings proved to be more alcoholic than they expected.

If they wanted to blame someone, they'd blame the waitress that kept their glasses full during Al and Mei's wedding party, but to be fair, they didn't mind, not then and even less now – didn't mind the party and the alcohol, and certainly didn't mind the fancy suite where they had lots of frantic, messy sex in. More importantly, they didn't mind the result of all that messy sex.

They wanted this baby. They just didn't know how to have it without turning into a scandal or ruining Roy's chances at being the military's face of transition and change.

Roy leaned over and kissed Riza's stomach, making her laugh. It tickled.

"Hey little Mustang, you're coming in a complicated moment, you know?" he said to her bump. Roy had been striking conversations with their baby since they realized she was pregnant a little over a month ago. "You're not supposed to be here, but worry not, we've got you. We'll figure something out."

Riza noticed as he frowned, the sign that something was going on in his head, and then he looked up at her again.

"Is your grandfather still in Rheos Falls?"

"Yes…" she said, not sure where he wanted to get with that piece of information. Roy sat up, the frown still there.

"Huh," he said. Just that. And she knew he had a plan starting to form in that weird brain of his.

-xxx-

Riza stopped in the women's toilet on her way to the general's office just to take a look in the mirror. It was potentially warmer today, but that military jacket would have to stay to cover the five month bump. She turned on her side to make sure everything was in place and it was, and then she got her things and headed to the office, back straight, head high.

Three weeks ago, they started to put their plan together. It could go wrong in many points, considering that it was based on trust in many people, but if Riza and Roy knew their friends well, it would work out just fine. The first part of the plan – of her hiding the bump – was to be pushed back for as long as possible, but it was getting warmer and there was just so much the military uniform could cover.

"Hawkeye!" Havoc greeted as soon as she got in. "I thought I would never see you again. Figured you'd enjoy working for a powerful woman and forget about us completely."

Riza smirked and sat down at her usual place, carefully organizing her books. Roy had sent her to Armstrong for the past couple of weeks to work on their side of the plan, and she couldn't deny that the woman was interesting company. For starters, she didn't stay all over Riza asking her to sit down or stretch out a little like Roy did, which was a relief.

She opened her folder and eyed the first paper in it with a lump in her throat. She didn't want to do it so soon, but the baby was growing so fast… Riza refrained from resting a hand on her stomach. The guys weren't supposed to know yet, they had to keep it hidden from them for a while.

"Well, don't get used to it, Jean," she said getting up again and taking the paper with her.

"You're going back to Armstrong?" asked Fuery frowning and Riza shook her head, but didn't say anything else.

The door to Roy's office was closed that day, but Riza left it ajar after she went in. She knew the guys would be eavesdropping anyway, might as well make it easy.

"Lieutenant Colonel," Roy greeted.

"General," she said bowing her head.

"Can I help you with something?"

"Yes, Sir," she said and took a deep breath before handing him the paper. "I need a license, or a hold."

Roy read the request quickly, mostly because he already knew what was in it, and kept a frown. With her back to the door, Riza's posture was flawless.

"For a year? A whole year?"

"Yes, Sir," she answered. "At least. I need to go east… family matters."

"Is old man Grumman okay?" he asked and she nodded.

"He's feeling nostalgic, I think, and it's better if I'm around."

He nodded and reached for the stamp, but paused midway to look at her.

"That's so sudden, Lieutenant," he said. "Are you sure you can't wait a little longer?"

Riza smiled softly and let a hand rest on her stomach showing how big the baby was getting and how close it was from poking through the uniform. Roy smiled too.

"Afraid not, General," she said. "I've waited long enough."

"All right, Hawkeye," Roy looked at the calendar and wrote something down on her request. "Starting Monday, you will have your 365 days, and then we'll work from there."

"Thank you, Sir," Riza said dropping her hand and standing in position as she waited for him to stamp and sign her request. She fixed her jacket and got the paper from him. It was a Friday and she still had the whole day of work.

"If you already have everything finished with the Fuhrer, you can get your things ready here and then come back to help me rearrange the office responsibilities."

"Yes, Sir," she replied and then excused herself, pretending not to hear the guys on the other side of the door fumbling to get back to their seats before she caught them.

-xxx-

They all went to the train station with her the following Sunday, including Rebecca, which was rather sweet. Riza only took a couple of bags with her as well as Black Hayate, knowing that her grandfather would have prepared everything for her.

The only crisis happened when Hayate growled at Falman and Breda when they tried to help her with the bags. He had been extra protective over her lately, and Riza had been trying to teach him that she was fine, at least among friends. For most of the time, he sat by her legs on the station's platform paying attention to their surroundings. Luckily, the place wasn't full of people.

"Do you have your ticket?" Roy asked and Riza turned to him slowly. The others did the same and he cowered under their gaze. "I just want to make sure."

"I have my ticket, Sir," she answered evenly. He sighed, letting show that he was nervous. That wasn't part of the plan, so Riza tried to play it cool. "Sir, there's no need to back down now, I'm sure Havoc will be a decent bodyguard."

Rebecca and Fuery snorted, meaning that her joke served its purpose and Roy smiled, even though there was a thin layer of sweat on his brow.

"I know," he sighed. There was a loud whistle indicating that boarding was about to start. "Hawkeye…"

They never, ever touched in public – it was too risky and too easy for outsiders to jump into conclusions if they did – but at that moment she allowed to reach out and fix his impeccable shirt.

"Don't worry about me, Sir, I'll be fine," she said and he held her hands. For a long moment, they stood like that, just looking at one another without saying a word until Black Hayate barked happily jumping on Roy, who let go of her hands and kneeled down.

"You take good care of them, right, boy?" he said and the dog sat down too, barked once in understanding. Roy petted him proudly, but Riza knew how to read him way too well. He was reluctant to see her leave, even though they both knew that she should. He continued talking to the dog. "I will see you soon."

"Gee, who'd say Mustang was so soft," Breda joked when Riza left the pair to say goodbye to her friends. The only one she hugged was Rebecca, but no one took offense in it.

None of the guys expected  _her_  to be soft, she was sure they'd be so confused if they had seen her crying over her dropped red velvet that same morning. She had been so inconsolable that Roy even called the Grumman house to ask them to have another cake ready for when she arrived.

"Take care of old man Grumman, Riza," Falman said shaking her hand. "And don't be a stranger."

"Yeah, one year is a lot of time, don't forget about us," Fuery said next. She shook his hand too.

"Don't worry, guys," Riza said. "I'll keep in touch. And don't hesitate to call me in case you're in doubt about some office-"

"No, no, no," Rebecca interrupted. "Riza, don't say that, they will call you  _all the time!_  You know how useless they are with paperwork, if they call you whenever they have trouble with it, your phone won't ever stop ringing! No, you're on a break. I mean, how many years did you push your vacation, anyway, to babysit Mustang?"

Out of the corner of her eye, Riza saw Roy glare at Rebecca, but she couldn't help the little chuckle. Rebecca wasn't done.

"Girl, you go stay with your family for a change, and let the men pretend they are useful. I, on the other hand, will call you whenever I can. You still have to tell me what exactly is making you leave, don't think I'll let it pass that easily."

"I know, Becca," she said and hugged Rebecca again briefly. Black Hayate put his nose under Riza's hand and she petted his head before she got the leash from Roy again. "I have to go."

Roy helped her getting the bags and she picked the dog up. He wasn't supposed to walk freely in the train, and had only been allowed to go with her instead of with the live stock because he was military pet.

"Hey, how come he doesn't growl at Mustang?" Breda protested, getting closer and the dog growled at him again.

"Black Hayate!" Riza commanded firmly and he quieted down. Roy turned to the men all smug.

"It's because he likes me only second to Hawkeye," he said and followed her to the train.

Actually, Hayate's second favorite had always been Kain, but he grew used to having Roy around; besides he had his share of growling at the General and already got used to having him around his master.

Roy approached a station employee to take Riza's bags to her cabin and then helped her get the ticket when he saw her struggling to get it out of her pocket.

"Thanks," she said. He petted the dog again before she entered in the train and from the platform Roy followed Riza until she reached her cabin.

She had to scold and calm down Black Hayate a few times, because he was shooting warning growls to everyone who'd come close enough to her, and waited in the corridor until the employee with her bags had put everything inside before she got in and left.

Riza closed and locked the door and then she set Hayate down, fixed her shirt and sat down by the window. Roy was standing by it and got closer again, leaning against it. She sat more comfortably, resting her feet on the seat in front of her. They had bought a ticket for the whole cabin for a reason, and bothered with her tight pants, Riza decided to open its buttons.

"I need new clothes," she said with a hand on her lower stomach.

"How is it getting so big so fast?" Roy wondered amazed.

"Olivier said that after the fifth month, the baby starts growing exponentially," Riza replied. None of them were experts in pregnancies, but Olivier was the eldest of five siblings and she knew things.

"Oooh, did she go soft on you when she saw your condition?" he asked and she shook her head no.

"Not a chance," Riza said and then flinched. Baby was quite the kicker already.

"Are you alright?" Roy asked worried and Riza waved him off.

"Oh, you know, just the usual kick in the ribs. It's fine. Can't seem to find a comfortable position for this one, though."

"Gonna be a long trip," he said and she shrugged.

"Gonna be a long four months," she replied, but kept a smile on her face. "You really don't have to worry about me, Roy, you know that."

Riza patted the space by her side and Black Hayate jumped in; he dug at the seat a little and then laid down, his head on her lap.

"I know," Roy said. "And I'll go see you in a couple of months, and then I'll take some time off in four months to be with you."

"Roy," Riza interrupted and held his hand. He opened his mouth to say something else, but she guided his hand to her stomach, pressing it on the top of her left side gently. "Come on, baby, you were kicking so hard…"

"You know I can't nev-" he cut it short with a gasp, eyes wide when the baby kicked again right where Riza had put his hand and she watched him all but melt and practically drop to his knees by the train, which made her chuckle. "What, how's that fair?"

"Roy," she called leaning on her window and he stepped back crossing his arms. The train whistled again and Riza saw that Roy was tear-eyed. Her smile softened. "You'll have plenty of time when you come over, don't do that."

"I'm not doing anything," he replied annoyed, arms still crossed and even pouting a little. The train was about to leave and she reached out to take his hand one more time. "And if you stay by Armstrong's side and get the council to drop the no fraternization law, then we'll have even more time. Have a little faith."

Both her grandfather and now Olivier after him had been trying to drop that law for a really long time, and didn't have success so far, but that was the thing about faith, right? It worked in the dark. The train started to move and Roy held on to her hand a little tighter.

"I'll visit soon," Roy said and she smiled. "Good riddance, Lieutenant Colonel."

He let go and Riza looked over at her friends in the platform, waved at them. Black Hayate squeezed by her side and barked. They guys waved and Rebecca ran to Roy's side to watch her go, waving excitedly.

"Bye Riza! Have some hotcakes for me!"

"You bet I will!" she shouted back and Hayate barked a little more, but when he saw his master sit back down, he followed her lead and resumed to his previous position by her side. Riza petted his head. "Yeah, boy. And so it begins."

Sympathetically, he nuzzled her baby bump and the baby moved again, but this time in a much calmer way.


	2. Thread

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello there! I'm posting this one day early because I'm going to the theatre watch It tomorrow!
> 
> Thank you all so very much for favoriting/following/leaving kudos and comments, it means a lot to me! I hope you keep enjoying the fic.
> 
> In case you're wondering, the title of the fic is from the Gorillaz song "She's my collar", you know? _We made a green meadow whenever we would collide_. You can also find a companion playlist for this fic, because I'm one of those people. The links are in my tumblr, you just go to [breakthestrutura](http://breakthestrutura.tumblr.com/post/164868923796).
> 
> There will be a new chapter in a couple of weeks, pinky promise! I'll be waiting for your review at the end!

" _I know they probably want me to open the door and tell it all to the world like I've done before,_  
But it's the things that you do when there's nobody watching."  
_High_  – Corinne Bailey Rae

Grandfather Grumman lived on the outskirts of Rheos Falls, which meant that besides the four hours of train, Riza still had to take a short ride of thirty minutes to get to the mansion. There was a chauffeur waiting for her who had to pass Hayate's inspection before Riza could enter in the car, and he barely said a word on the way. He was new, seeing that the previous chauffeur had retired, but he wasn't young; he held a severe posture and introduced himself as Augustus. She guessed that that was the type of people who could work for her grandfather – those who were quiet and reserved, serious in comparison to Grandpa's sparkly personality.

It was sometime after thirteen hundred when she arrived starving, but instead of going straight to the kitchen to look for something to eat, Riza went to the living room, where Augustus said Grandpa would be waiting. She pushed the door open and was welcomed by the smell of tea and butter biscuits.

It threw her right back into childhood, the plate of biscuits cooling on the coffee table, the half-finished cup of tea by its side, and now, to her surprise, a beautifully iced red velvet just waiting to be cut.

Yeah, it was just like when she was little.

"Riza!" Grandfather greeted standing up, opening his arms to embrace her, and she hugged him back. "I'm so glad you called to me."

He let go and held her hands frowning.

"Where's the ring? Didn't I tell that Roy boy to put a ring on it?"

"Hello grandpa, it's good to be here," Riza greeted with a chuckle. "You know we can't yet. The law still exists."

Grumman scoffed and rested a hand on her stomach.

"Them laws didn't stop  _this_  from happening," he scolded and she felt the blush growing on her cheeks. "Come here, dear, I'll have Patrice bring you some stew."

Riza accepted the offer gladly and sat by the table in the corner of the room; she had a vague memory of sitting in that same chair and being small enough for her feet not to touch the ground. Grumman gestured for a girl who was by the side door and she walked out, coming back quickly with a tray, Patrice, who was the older woman carrying a jar of lemonade and a young boy bringing the plates, cups and silverware. They sat everything on the table and served the food. Besides the stew, they also had homemade bread that was still warm, sliced and put on the corner of their plates.

Surprised by how quiet Black Hayate had been, Riza looked around the room and found him chewing on a bone by the window. When he got that bone and from who was a mystery she would have to solve later.

"Were you waiting for me to eat, grandpa?" Riza asked and ne nodded smiling. "You didn't need to."

"Don't be silly, I had them pushing the lunch hour today just to share the meal with you, baby girl. We never really had the chance to do this when you were growing up, so I figured we might as well enjoy now."

Riza had some fond memories of times like these, when she was about five or six and her mother would take the train with her all the way to her childhood home – this home – to spend a couple of days with grandpa, sometimes more if it was during summer. Some of the staff was new, but Patrice had been there for as long as she remembered, and her food had always been the best. Honestly, it was her Riza kept in mind when she was learning how to cook.

"Thank you, grandpa," she said, and she didn't mean only because of the meal.

[...]

" _Wow_!"

Jude's flabbergasted exclamation reflected the amazement on everyone in their growing family as Edward slowed down to park in front of Grumman's house.

"Is that the kind of house we could have if you'd stayed in the military, Ed?" Winry asked. She had been feeding Steph, but not even her baby's angelic face kept her eyes from wandering at the mansion.

"I can't do alchemy anymore, Win, I would be stripped from my title and would have to start over," he said and leaned over the steering wheel to look at the entry better. "It sure would be sweet, though."

"Excuse me, sir," someone said tapping on Ed's window and making the whole family jump, startled. After a moment to recover, Ed rolled down the window to talk to the fancy-dressed man. "I assume you're the Elric-Rockbells."

"You assume correctly," Ed answered. Winry worried about making sure that Stephen had finished his meal.

"I'm Augustus. You're being waited in the pool area. May I help you to your quarters first?"

"What? Of course," Ed opened the door. "Let me just get our things…"

"There's no need, sir," the man said and gestured to the back of the car. They all turned around and saw two employees dressed like the man waiting.

"Oh… okay. Great, I guess we'll get going to our quarters then, what do you think, Win?"

Winry nodded.

"That would be lovely."

They followed the man and the other boys came right after them; they were shown to the dining room, the living room, and the library that left both Ed and their eldest Jude amazed before they went upstairs. Augustus informed that lunch would be served at twelve-hundred, and they could smell the roasted lamb from the second floor. Grumman spared them a large room with a crib and another room attached to it with two beds, one for Jude and other for Lydia, as well as their own bathroom.

Before going back down and to the pool area, the whole family changed into their bathing suits. There was a young lady not much younger than Winry and Ed themselves waiting for them to give the rest of the tour. She pointed at the most unthinkable rooms a house could have, like a ballroom, a game room, a  _taxidermy_  room, and a war room, whatever those mean.

(Surely one wouldn't have  _actual taxidermy_  at home, right? Right?)

Lydia decided that she liked the girl – Sadie was her name – and rushed ahead to hold her hand just as they stepped out in the back balcony. They were on the top of the stairs that went to the right and to the left, with eagle gargoyles adorning the handrails, and they could see the green scenery all around beyond the property limits.

Down there was the pool, surrounded by deck chairs and half-open sunshades. It was a warm day in the grasslands of the east and the pool looked so inviting that Winry had to hold Jude's hand a little tighter to prevent him from rushing down and diving right in. Ed was carrying Stephen while Lyd still went with the girl, who was leading them to the only completely open sunshade.

"Make sure to hold her tight, Miss Sadie, my Lydia is a vicious one," Ed instructed and then turned to Winry. "You really have no clue why the Lieutenant invited us here?"

Winry sighed. Ever since Riza called inviting them over for the weekend a few days ago, Ed had been bugging her about the whys, but Win had said a thousand times-

"Edward, I don't k-"

Winry stopped short and in her sudden excitement she let go of Jude to beam at what she was seeing; under a sunshade, stretched on a deck chair wearing a black two-pieces bathing suit and with sunglasses on was Riza Hawkeye, but more importantly, she was sporting a baby bump! She turned to look at them and then opened a smile.

"You came!" she exclaimed.

"Of course we did," Winry replied, her excitement suddenly cut by the shock in the woman's words. "You asked."

"Winry? Little help," Ed called and she looked back just to find her husband balancing a baby with one arm and holding their struggling kid with the other. She quickly went to his aid, taking Stephen from him.

When they looked at Riza again, she had sat up and was smiling at them, shades off. She gestured to the other deck chairs for them to sit, so Winry and Ed shared the one by her side with their boys.

"Miss Sadie, can you show me all the secret entries of the house?" Lydia was asking the young lady she decided to befriend.

"Well, there are many, Miss Lydia," Sadie said. "I'll see how many I can show you during the three days of your stay."

The three of them watched as they walked around the pool, and only after they were turning around that the attention went back to Riza. From her own experience, Winry guessed that the woman was in the sixth, maybe fifth month of the pregnancy, and it just made her so happy!

"I didn't know you were planning on having kids, Riza," Win said beaming. "I didn't even know you had a boyfriend."

"I wasn't and I don't," Riza answered simply. Winry frowned.

"Then who's the father?" she asked confused. By her side, Ed chuckled in that all-knowing way he liked to use.

"I knew it," he said and smirked. "It's his, isn't it?"

Riza glanced at Ed for a stretched moment as Winry tried to understand the silent conversation they were having, and then the woman nodded. Ed let out a loud  _HAH_.

"Al is so gonna have to pay me," he mumbled triumphantly.

"Wait, I don't follow," Win interrupted. "Who are you talking about?"

"It's obvious, Win," Ed answered before Riza could say something. "The Colonel is the father."

"It's General now," Riza corrected over Winry's gasp.

For a moment, Winry was speechless, and when she talked again, it was to say –

"But… I thought… no fraternization …"

Ed scoffed again. Not to get it wrong, Hawkeye and Mustang looked like the best couple they'd never see together, and that was mostly because they were super high ranked military people, and Riza was the most disciplined person Winry had ever met. She never thought for a minute that they would break any law.

"Really, Win, did you even  _meet_  Mustang's squad? They have their own rules," Ed argued, but Riza didn't agree with him.

"We have our  _code_  and our ways to  _bend_  the rules as they suit us, but we don't usually  _break_  them," Riza corrected. "Trust me, we learned how to do it with the best." At this, she looked back at the house quickly. "But some things are just… I mean, Rebecca has to work as a P.I. now, because she and Jean wanted to marry, Kain gave up on having Black Hayate because pets aren't allowed in the HQ dorms."

"But you and Mustang have been at it all along," Ed pointed out and despite blushing, Riza nodded.

"As I told you, this wasn't planned," she said resting both hands on her stomach. "Olivier Armstrong has been trying for the past couple of years to get the no fraternization law dropped with little to no success, as did my grandfather before her. The council is still very strict, and now they're saying that Armstrong must be infatuated with one of her men to be asking to drop the law!"

" _Seriously?_ " Winry asked skeptically. Riza nodded. "That's such BS."

Riza agreed.

"Even though that law is stupid and my grandfather had been requesting the same not that long ago," she reinforced with an unamused scoff. "I was with her in the last council voting and it was so… ridiculous. She's literally the only woman in there and basically everything she tries to pass is second guessed by those old morons. It's infuriating."

"But what about the elections?" Ed asked, suddenly worried. Riza shook her head.

"That was a plebiscite result and it can't be avoided, because the people have spoken. The parties are being formed as we speak, I'm sure Vato will approach you soon too, Ed."

Edward shook his head.

"Oh no, I don't want to be part of any party," he said. Winry knew about the men looking for that governor seat who came looking for her husband at the beginning of the year, sure of the win as long as the Fullmetal was by their side, and how it bothered Ed.

"Don't worry, you won't have to run for anything," Riza assured smiling. "But I will tell you that Roy hopes to have you and Alphonse by his side."

Ed narrowed his eyes at that.

"I told him to talk to me  _after_  the democracy was implanted," he said.

"Look, all I'm saying is to go talk to him, see if your ideas align," Riza said calmly, her hand rubbing her baby bump absently. "And then you decide if you want to jump in  _after_  instead of help him pave his way to victory."

There was a staring context between the two and Riza sipped her drink casually. Winry didn't know when the filled glasses appeared, but she saw a boy with lighter clothes standing a few steps away. It was warm enough for some grape juice anyway, so she gave one of the glasses to Jude and offered one to Ed before picking one for herself.

"Okay," Edward conceded. "I will talk with the  _General_ ," he snickered the title like he always did, even though Winry knew he actually liked Roy. "But don't expect anything."

"I'm not," Riza said. Something told Win that the woman already knew that Ed would be in.

"Is that why you called?" Winry asked suddenly. Riza's attention turned to her. "To talk about politics?"

"Actually, no," she replied and smiled sincerely. "I called to ask for help. I know that you are busy with three babies and your autoshop, but I don't know the first thing about this." Riza pointed at her stomach. At this point, Winry already had an idea of what kind of help she was being asked to and started to squeal in anticipation. "I need some guidance."

Enchanted, Winry became overexcited with the prospect of helping another woman through these last months of bearing a child. They were the best and the hardest months and she already was pouring down questions and knowledge from her own experience before Ed interrupted.

"Okay, obviously this isn't a chat for me," he said getting up. He put his and Jude's empty glasses on the small table that held the sunshade up. "Is that pool for use?"

Sometimes, Winry couldn't believe her husband, but coming to think about it, Riza had promised an early summer weekend.  _The weather is sunny and perfect, and I'm all alone with this huge pool, I'm sure your kids would love to play in it. I wouldn't mind the company either._  Of course, none of Mustang's team's moves weren't carefully thought out, so they immediately assumed that something was up.

"Knock yourself out," Riza said with a gesture to the pool and Jude celebrated.

"Awesome!" the little boy exclaimed with his fists in the air, but when he bolted to the water, Ed caught him in mid-air.

"Not so fast, champ, let's find your sister first."

For a moment, Winry and Riza only watched them go look for Lydia, but they were quick to go back to the subject.

"Here's the thing," Riza said before Win could catch up right from where she stopped. "Grandpa Grumman and Chris Mustang are getting the farm near the hills ready for me and I will be moving there soon with my sister-in-law Amelia."

Winry frowned. She didn't know Roy had a sister.

"How come we never found out about you being Grumman's granddaughter and Roy having a sister?" she asked.

"Roy has many sisters, from his foster home. Girls his aunt took in when she was raising him," Riza explained. "Amelia actually studied with me until 4th grade, and he told me that she just came back from Xing, where she was studying medicine and alkahestry. She's looking for somewhere to get roots and start her career as a doctor and agreed to help."

Ed came back with Jude and Lyd and they noisily jumped in the pool splashing water everywhere. Together, Winry and Edward had taught their kids how to swim in the river behind the hill, so she wasn't too worried.

"The farm is closer to Resembool than it is from here, so I hope it won't be too hard for you to come visit me every now and then."

"Of course!" Winry guaranteed. "I would love to help, Riza. This is wonderful, I'm glad you thought of me."

Riza chuckled relieved.

"You have no idea how many times I considered calling you for tips since I found out in February, Winry! But Olivier has been of great help."

Distracted, Winry nodded just to shake her head right after.

"Hold on, you're telling me Fuhrer Armstrong knows you're pregnant with Roy's baby and she didn't say anything?" Riza nodded. "I thought the Armstrong were super military strict, more even than you!"

"Well, Alex doesn't know," Riza pointed out. "He's a softy, but yeah, he takes the military very seriously. As a matter of fact, not even the guys know, we didn't tell them yet." Winry's jaw dropped at that. She assumed that whatever Mustang's team got into, they'd get through together, but perhaps that baby wasn't a problem for the team to solve. It was Roy and Riza's kid to take care of. "But Olivier is from Briggs, and she has her own codes too, so there's that."

"True," Winry pondered for a moment and then smiled. "Well, you can surely count on the Elric-Rockbells with whatever it is you might need!"

Riza smiled. She was a beautiful woman, part of Winry wondered what took her so long to form her own family and the other part argued that perhaps… she just couldn't, because her family was Roy and they were star-crossed. Coming to think about it, it was certainly romantic.

"Thanks, Winry," she said and flinched. "You could start by telling me what to do to calm this little kicker."

Oh yeah, the kicks. They were cute on the outside, but grew more painful as the baby grew out of space. Winry couldn't say she missed them.

[...]

"Sir?" Havoc called opening the door to Roy's office. "Do you have a minute?"

Roy nodded without looking up from his paperwork and he heard the door close before he looked up. Havoc's posture was antsy as he came closer to his desk, nervously chewing on a toothpick.

"Uh…" he started uncertain. "Rebecca just came back from her trip and-"

"No," the General said firmly and Havoc stopped short confused.

"What?"

"No, you can't leave early to go be with her for longer. Isn't that what you were going to ask?"

To be fair, Roy knew exactly what Havoc had gone there to say, but he decided to play along since, well, he was on to a big secret. In front of him, his temporary bodyguard looked flustered taking the toothpick from his mouth.

"No, no, no, Sir, is not it…" he leaned closer, one hand on the desk. "Do you know where she was?"

"You don't know where your wife was during her trip, Lieutenant?" Roy asked back raising an eyebrow, enjoying seeing Havoc get more and more anxious.

"I do know where she was, Sir, she was east with Hawkeye," his voice lowered considerably. "Sir, Riza is… pregnant."

Whatever it was that Havoc expected Roy's reaction to be, it was not how it actually went. On his side of the desk, the General simply nodded.

"You knew?"

"I knew."

For a moment, Havoc didn't say anything and Roy couldn't help but wonder why the anxiety in telling him.

"Is that why you were so easy to give her a hold?" he asked. Roy nodded and Havoc mirrored the movement. "Sorry, Sir, it's just that… we were kind of under the impression that… uh… I mean, I've suspected for about a decade now, but… well."

"Spill it out, Havoc."

Swallowing, Havoc's posture went rigid when he looked into Roy's eyes.

"We kind of thought that you and Hawkeye were a thing. I mean, Hughes mentioned more than once that you two dated before she got into the military, so we just assumed… but she's pregnant now, and… that means…" his speech slowed down as the gears in his head were put to work and he started to make the connections. Roy just stared at Havoc as he spoke. "Because otherwise… and if it were, you wouldn't… be so calm? Would you? But actually, Riza didn't need to leave the city and quit work, unless…"

Havoc turned to Roy again wide-eyed when he let the pieces fall in their places and the General couldn't help but smirk.

"Holy fucking shit."

"How many people know about Rebecca's whereabouts and discoveries, Lieutenant?" Roy asked seriously this time.

"No one, Sir," Havoc answered, suddenly in attention position. "She told me when she arrived and I thought it'd be better to talk to you first."

"You thought right, Jean," the General said, purposely using the Lieutenant's first name. "And I believe you understand that this is a really delicate matter. We'll let you all in when it's time, but for now we request discretion. Can you do that?"

"Sir, yes, Sir."

A small relieved sigh escaped from Roy, he didn't even notice how that last part of their conversation had gotten him tense. He knew he could trust his men, that wasn't the problem. And he knew that Rebecca would find out sooner than everyone else, he wasn't the least bit surprised when Riza called the previous Friday night to tell about her friend's surprise visit, but it was always nice to know that he could count on his team's support.

"Then I think we're settled," he said. Havoc nodded.

"Yes, Sir. Excuse me."

Roy waved him off, he was never one for formalities when it was just his team.

"Havoc, call Sheska in, please."

"Yes, Sir."

Havoc had filled the shoes as the bodyguard nicely, even though he wasn't as good looking, but none of the men could fill in with keeping the paperwork in order, so Riza had suggested bringing Sheska in to be the secretary and the woman was actually doing a great job. They needed a woman around to keep them in line.

"General?" Sheska called less than half a minute after Havoc left the room.

"Do you have the agenda with you, Ms. Sheska?" he asked and she nodded. "Please, tell me everything is in order for my trip east at the end of the month."

Nodding vigorously, Sheska stepped inside and closed the door behind her. They had a lot to discuss.

[...]

The weather was extra nice now that it was practically July, and Augustus found a nice spot near one of the less used exits of the train station that end of morning. Riza sat in the car with the door open, facing the exit anxiously; in order to calm her nerves and shoo the boredom away, she had dismantled and reassembled her gun at least five times since they arrived, and they just arrived.

"Miss Riza, you know you don't need to carry a gun," Augustus said standing next to her. He was a soldier just like her, his posture gave him away.

"I don't carry a gun," she said lifting the hem of her dress to reach the holster on her left thigh. Riza exhibited the other automatic proudly. "I carry two. At least."

Shaking his head, Augustus sighed. He was a very serious man, but a nice company to keep, she understood why her grandfather had taken such a liking on him.

"Better than your shitty pistol," she said evenly with a raised eyebrow as she put her gun together again, the other one rested between her leg and the back of the car seat.

"I don't have a pistol," Augustus replied and she scoffed.

Content with the click of the safety of her gun, she put it back in the holster in her right thigh and then opened her hand. Annoyed, the chauffer reached for something on his back and then put the piston in her hand; Riza smiled and checked the gun, noticing right away that a bullet was missing.

"What did you have to shoot?" she asked curiously and Augustus hummed.

"The cock."

That made Riza laugh as she handed the pistol back.

"I did notice the mornings were much quieter."

The whistle of a train arriving interrupted her and Riza looked up at the exit stairs knowing that it'd still take a few minutes for anyone to come through it. The baby moved anxiously, struggling to accommodate. Amelia had said that it was starting to turn upside down and that soon the baby would start preparing for the delivery. Riza rubbed her belly trying to soothe it. Daddy was almost here.

"So," she said as a way to distract her own anxiousness. "You're from Briggs."

"Used to," Augustus answered. "Until that bastard Bradley started moving everyone around randomly and I ended up East. After everything, when Falman went back to your squad and Armstrong tried to take me back to hers, Grumman didn't let her."

Riza hummed, her thoughts being redirected to Vato, who had been sent to Briggs after Bradley confirmed that they knew he was a Homunculus. It felt like so long ago, but only seven years had passed.

"Bet you'd rather work for Olivier," she provoked but Augustus didn't even blink.

"Paycheck is fatter here," he answered casually and she tilted her head, surprised by his answer. Those Briggs men, though… she knew better than to think that they were in for the money. There was something else, but it was between Augustus and her grandfather, she was certain they wouldn't let her in in their secret.

The light breeze from the movement of the train brought in the sound of voices and people started to pour through the exit, so Riza decided to officially get out of the car and close the door behind her. Her eyes scanned the group of people, looking for Roy and she crossed her arms.

"What is taking him so long? My instructions were cle-" Before she could even finish her rant, he showed up on top of the stairs, making her heart skip a beat. He too seemed to me searching the crowd, looking for her. "Roy!"

He was wearing casual clothes, dark jeans pants and a blue shirt; a duffel bag hung from his shoulder and his hair was pushed back by the sunglasses. The moment Roy saw her, his face lit up and he rushed down the steps, meeting her halfway and being surprised by her lips on his.

"Wow," he exclaimed with wide eyes, his hands on her shoulders. His eyes quickly scanned around and she knew why – Rheos was not a big city, but it still was mildly militarized, but she had chosen that exit very carefully, he had nothing to worry about.

"Relax, we're cool here," she said and his quick frown said it all. If Riza Hawkeye was this calm, then they really were safe. Sure that the neighborhood seemed questionable, but he wouldn't doubt her when it came to security.

Roy let the duffel drop to the floor and leaned in to kiss her again and she smiled happily. She missed him and these past weeks had been harder than expected without him. Their little and rare display of affection was interrupted when someone passed behind Roy in a hurry, caught his duffel and bolted in the opposite direction.

The reaction was immediate. Roy let go of Riza and fished a lighter from his pocket; he clapped once and flicked the lighter sending the spark in the direction of the felon, trapping the guy in a ring of fire. It was only when he turned around scared to death and with Riza and Augustus' guns pointed at him as well that they realized it was a teenager.

"T-the Flame Alchemist?" the boy stuttered.

"You might want to give it back, kid," Roy said coldly. Without a second thought, the duffel was thrown in their direction, but even so no one moved. If anything, the ring of fire only got tighter around the boy. "Try again."

"Okay! Fine!" the kid exclaimed, emptying his pockets and letting fall on the floor several wallets and jewels. Riza narrowed her eyes at him and Roy smirked.

"Now, that's better," Roy said stepping closer to the boy. Riza lowered her gun, but didn't let her guard down as she watched Roy transmute some cuffs and handcuff the boy after dropping the fire. "How about you explain to us the reason why you thought it'd be a good idea to steal on our way to the police department?"

It turned out that the kid was only fifteen and an orphan. They took him all the way to the precinct, but didn't turn him in, just the things he had stolen, and then bought him lunch. The four of them ate together listening to the boy's story about how he'd been living in the streets for half of his life and Roy offered him a ticket to Central for him to start over.

"If you really want to," Roy had said seriously and Riza saw how the boy was hanging on to the General's words. "You meet me in the train station in exactly six days at oh-eight hundred forty-five and I can put a word for you with some people, maybe get you enrolled in Central Academy."

Riza couldn't help but smile at what Roy was doing and part of her registered the change of posture on Augustus. She knew that Roy's reputation followed him all around Amestris of the cocky alchemist that climbed the ranks way too fast to be fair; more than half of the military hated him for a long time until they worked in Ishval's reconstruction, and even after that some still held a grudge, but this was the real version, this kind man who cared so much – and who couldn't keep his hand off her belly trying to predict where their baby would kick next.

They parted ways with the kid in front of the restaurant giving him a few cens and watched him go before Riza turned to Roy with a knowing smile.

"What?" he asked suspiciously and she shrugged.

"Nothing. I didn't know you were picking up strays again."

Roy looked offended by her accusation.

" _I never picked up strays!_ " he protested and she raised an eyebrow.

"I do seem to remember a couple of brothers, though…"

"Humpf," was the only answer Roy gave her before he offered his arm and then they followed Augustus back to the car.

Riza accepted it gladly and didn't mind the help to get in the back seat. She was in no way out of shape, seeing as she still exercised daily, just not at the same intensity as before, but it was always weird to maneuver with the big belly. Augustus started the car after Roy got in and Riza took his hand and guided to where the baby was pushing for him to feel its tiny feet.

"What are you going to do if the kid does show up?" Riza asked. "Take him to Central and then what? Take him home?"

Roy made a face.

"No!" he said as if she had suggested something absurd. Well, he did go soft on the Elric brothers, what was she supposed to expect? "I'm taking him to Olivier, she mentioned she needed a new stable boy to take care of the horses. She'll have that kid straight in two days."

"Two days?" Riza scoffed. "You give him too much credit."

"It's been really active today, the baby," Roy said amazed when the baby made an abrupt move and Riza nodded.

"It's been like this the whole morning, I think it missed you too, just like me," she said. "You used to talk to it every day, and now it's been two months without hearing your voice, it got excited."

Roy smiled and leaned in for a quick kiss before he directed his attention to her bump.

"Hello, Little Mustang," he said fondly. "Daddy's missed you, Baby. I can't wait to see you."

Riza couldn't wait either, even though she didn't really know how it would be when the baby was born. She would still have eight months of license, but after that? With the anti-fraternization law still going strong, how would they manage keeping their child a secret with Roy running for Prime Minister and all? It was going to be nearly impossible.

"What do you think it's going to be?" she asked, trying not to think too hard. Roy looked up at her. "Boy or girl? Grandfather thinks it's a boy, but Chris bet it's a girl. Winry said she couldn't tell, because everyone thought her first would be a girl and the second a boy, but it was the other way around, so she stopped paying attention the third time."

"I'm fine with either," Roy answered, but Riza knew how to read him way too well.

"I know what you want," she said and he raised an eyebrow. "You want a boy to name him Maes."

"Second name, only, maybe," he pointed and her smile grew. "You okay with it?"

Riza nodded.

"I don't really mind, I like it," she said rubbing her belly. "Maes Mustang, Hughes would've loved it. But what if it's a girl?"

"Then we'll have to think of something else," he said simply. "But I think it's a boy."

"So you  _do_  expect something," she poked him and Roy shrugged.

Riza didn't mind having a baby boy, she enjoyed helping Winry with Stephen. At least she knew that her baby would grow up with kids its age, even if Edward's children couldn't be considered an example of good behavior. Jude already knew how to draw transmutation circles and Lydia had her father's explosive personality. Riza wondered whose personality traits her baby would inherit.

Well, by the way it liked to move around, she already had a good guess.

[...]

After a couple of days of Grandfather grilling Roy about getting his granddaughter pregnant when they weren't even supposed to be together – despite all the times Grumman had been the one who poked them in the other's direction –, after updating Roy on everything that had been going on during those two months that they were apart, talking about little details she couldn't explain through the phone, because he had to see (see the little feet marking her skin perfectly, how the baby moved when Grandpa put some jazz on, and how her belly would get all weird if she laid on her side for too long); after slow dancing in the ballroom and struggling to find a comfortable position to sleep they finally get the last things together and headed to the hills.

"So, what's the story?" Roy asked suddenly as the car bounced on the road. Neither Riza nor the baby were enjoying that part of the trip.

"What story?" she asked, a hand on her belly trying to calm down the stressed baby.

"Of you being Grumman's secret granddaughter and all," he said. "Tell me all the family feud gossip."

Riza laughed at that, because he sounded a lot like the casual Roy on the phone. The only thing left was for him to call her Elizabeth. She tried to find a comfortable position with no success once more and then gave up all together.

"Didn't my father ever tell you? I thought you were his best friend or something."

"He always had something hateful to say about the military, but he never detailed the reason of his hatred," he said with a shrug and she hummed. That sounded like Father.

"It's actually not very clear for me, I never got the full story from anyone…" Riza began thoughtfully. "I was very little when they had a falling out. I remember coming to see Grandpa for a couple of summers, but not doing that when I was… eight? Which was around the time Mom started getting sick. I know that Father went to talk to Grandpa and came back on the same day… angry. And then we never went back. Mom died the next year and since Father had never ever gone with us to Rheos I just knew that it was over."

The car made a turn around a hill and down ahead the farm came to view, so Riza leaned on her window to watch it as they approached. The house wasn't as big as the mansion in Rheos Falls, but it was big enough. The shepherds were hoarding the sheep, most of them already shaved for the warm season, new lambs skipping around the ravine. When she spoke again, Riza sounded dreamy.

"I've never been here before," she said low, trying to bring to memory what she knew about that place. "But I remember mom promising to bring me when I was older. She told me it was her favorite place in the world, that she'd spend every spring here helping deliver the calves and lambs, curing cheese."

A hand on her hair interrupted her thoughts and she looked back at Roy, who was leaning over too, trying to see without invading her space and he smiled when their eyes met.

"Looks like a nice place for the kid of a general and a lieutenant colonel to grow in, don't you think?"

Riza smiled too. She thought so, yes.

[...]

"Grandfather told me later," she said later that night, when they were in the master bedroom after a long bath. "That he knew Mom was sick, so he called Father over to ask him to take the State Alchemist watch and make some money to pay for her treatment. He told me that Father was too stubborn and didn't want to be a military dog, and that he lost it when he was offered money instead. He told me Father assured we had enough to pay for Mom's treatment, but he said that he never believed him."

The house was beautiful on the inside too, with wooden furnishings and an old school kitchen. That farm had been in the Grumman family for generations and in an office down the hall there was a piece of paper in a desk drawer that said that it belonged to Riza now, like it was supposed to belong to her mother before her. The employees were nice simple people with lots of wisdom, and most of them had been working for the Grummans for generations.

They had been welcomed with warm greetings, the elders even claimed Riza looked so much like her mother, it even eased the heaviness in her heart that came every time she thought that Roy would be leaving in just three days. This was a home. It was calm and sweet and new, but it was home and she couldn't wait for Amelia and the Elric-Rockbells to come visit the following day.

Even the baby seemed to be enjoying the new sightings, being much calmer since they got out of the car, so it looked like progress.

"I think Grandfather blamed Father for my mom's death, and I think Father blamed himself too, but couldn't bring himself to admit it," Riza continued. "Instead of coming together, like we did with Gracia when Hughes died, they just grew apart, full of resentment. The difference was that Grandpa said he could always think of me when he missed her too much, but I don't think I was enough for Father, that's why he focused everything in the alchemy. It was certainly frustrating at times, I admit, but at least…"

She held Roy's hand, lacing her fingers in his. His hands were large and hardly ever trembled, and Riza loved them. She knew she could count on them to steady her.

Riza didn't need to say anything else, because he knew exactly what she meant. Out of her father's obsession with alchemy came that one apprentice who would stay forever under her skin.

Roy kissed her shoulder, then her jaw, and then her lips. He rested his free hand on her stomach, kissed her again and smiled when she looked in his eyes. Enough with memory lane for today, he said without words, and of course he was right.


	3. Wonderment

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the third chapter! Are you ready to know what the baby is? I hope you like this chapter, it was fun to write! So far, I'm still sticking to the 8 chapters plan, let's see how it goes.
> 
> I hope you leave a review at the end if you like it or not. Thanks for reading!

" _Now once I was downhearted, disappointment was my closest friend.  
But then you came and he soon departed, and you know he never showed his face again_."  
 _(Your love keeps lifting me) Higher and Higher_ – Jackie Wilson

"Someone's got the blues," said a boy near Roy, stopping the general's line of thoughts and attracting his attention. It was the kid from the previous week. "I see you're all alone, no pretty lady with you. Is that why you're down?"

Any contentment Roy was feeling to see the kid there folded itself and got stuck in a small drawer because of his nosy assumptions. It didn't matter that he was assuming correctly, that was none of his business, so Roy put on one of his stern faces he used to wear when Edward Elric was the Fullmetal.

"I see you decided to show up."

"You had a pretty decent offer," the kid said. His name was Fausto and he never gave them a last name. Roy smiled, knowing that he wouldn't be so excited once he met Olivier.

Or maybe he would, she was pretty nice on the eyes. Could kill you, but would look good doing it.

"Here," Roy reached for a pocket in his jacket and drew out a train ticket. Fausto got it barely containing his excitement and his eyes shone when he realized that it was a master cabin ticket.

"Wow! You really thought I'd come?" he asked amazed and Roy smirked.

"I didn't, the ticket was mine," he said and the boy frowned. "I was travelling as a civilian, but I don't really need to. All I have to do is flash this," Roy showed Fausto the State Alchemist watch and watched the boy's jaw drop. He reached out to touch it, but Roy held it out of his reach. He could swear the boy pouted. "Not a chance. Now, have you ever been to East or Central?"

"I haven't, Sir," Fausto answered. His eyes drifted to the long cars of the trains, scanning them attentively. "Never been in a train either, all my travels were on foot."

"Where are you from again?"

"Small city in South State, but I don't remember which," the kid said, eyes still on the train. It was a weekday, so the station was crowded. "Never stayed for too long in one place."

"Well, that's about to change," Roy said getting up and hanging his duffel on his shoulder. His voice suddenly turned into his general tone again. "I mean if, and  _only if_  you behave. Any funny business in this train, kid, and I'll forget you exist as soon as we're out in the open in Central, understood?"

Fausto gulped and nodded wide-eyed. Convinced, Roy headed to the train for boarding already had started and the kid followed him. He wasn't carrying any luggage of any size and Roy noticed, but said nothing about it. He noticed other things too, like how he had tried to look presentable – his fair skin had a thinner layer of dirt, his dark blonde hair had been combed somehow and his ratty clothes were sort of clean. The boy was much shorter than him, but if he really behaved all the way to Central, Roy supposed he'd have to lend him a few clothes before taking him to Olivier.

"So," Fausto started getting comfortable in their master cabin and Roy narrowed his eyes at the kid's feet on the seat in front of him. "That pretty lady with the guns and the baby bump. She your girlfriend? That your baby?"

Roy didn't say anything at first, busy with watching the people in the platform rushing to their departing trains. The whistle sounded loud announcing the leave of yet another train and he tried not to think how early he had to be up that morning to say goodbye to Riza, Amelia and the baby. Of course it'd be easier to catch the train in Resembool, but he held some hope that the boy would show up, so he had to go back to Rheos Falls.

Call him naïve all you want, but Roy Mustang still believed he could do more for people, even if it was small gestures like giving a teenager a chance to go to school as well as have somewhere to sleep. A teenager, by the way, who hadn't stopped talking yet.

"…what's her name, by the way? Some kids said that the eagles on that fancy car you were using is the symbol of some wealthy military old m-"

"Don't, kid," Roy interrupted. "You're not making a good case of yourself talking that much." He looked right into the kid's eyes. They were sky blue, the clearest shade of blue Roy had seen in his life, and that's considering how different his sisters were, coming from all around Amestris. "If you're going to be around the military, you'll have to start learning how to listen and pick sides. Wisdom doesn't come from babbling."

"Yes, Sir," Fausto nodded seriously. "Can I ask who are the people you'll introduce me to, though?"

Roy smirked and he saw the sweat build on the kid's forehead.

"You can ask, alright," he said leaning back and keeping the smirk. "But that doesn't mean I'll answer. It's a surprise."

"General Mustang!" Olivier's assistant exclaimed with a sweetness Fuhrer Armstrong would never, ever use when he entered in the room. "We weren't expecting you today."

"I'm sorry to come unannounced, Ms. Jasmine, but I was hoping Armstrong would be home."

Right behind him, Fausto was trembling like a green twig, but Jasmine didn't seem to notice him, her eyes were all for Roy.

"As a matter of fact, she is," she said. "I'll see if she can talk."

With a discreet nod from Roy, Jasmine left the room and she was barely out when the kid cussed.

"The Fuhrer of Amestris? The motherfucking Fuhrer?"

Roy turned to him with all the calm in the world.

"I see you still don't know how to watch your mouth," he said evenly and the boy gulped.

"Why didn't you tell me you were taking me to the Fuhrer?" Fausto asked recovering quickly. He sounded so desperate, it took all of Roy's will not to laugh. "Is this punishment because I stole your things? I gave them back, everything in its place, I sw-" he was interrupted by Roy's hand gesture.

"Can it, kid," he said still so calm. "I told you I was going to find you something to do and a school to go, and this is it. Now, I would watch my mouth in front of Armstrong if I were you."

It was just enough time for the boy to nod and zip his mouth, and the door across the room opened to reveal Jasmine back rushing behind Olivier – who didn't look the least bit pleased, but that was just her usual self, so Roy didn't give it much thought. Instead, he put on his best smile.

"Ollie! You're looking dashing as usual."

"Cut the crap, Mustang. What brings you here? I have paperwork to do."

"Ugh, my condolences," he said honestly and ignoring her dry remark. "I didn't know hell was so bureaucratic."

Olivier's eyes narrowed at his remark. Roy knew that he had just told Fausto to watch his mouth, but his bickering with Olivier dated from the military academy and he had no intention whatsoever to drop it, not even to be the immaculate example for a nosy teenager.

"Your good mood is making you press your luck, Mustang," she said coldly, standing tall as she got closer to him. "One'd think you'd be more careful with your behavior now that you have so much at stake." Oh, yeah. That. "I'll ask one more time and now you better answer me: what do you want?"

Refusing to look intimidated by her, Roy tried to sound casual.

"Do you still need to fill some staff spots? I found this one trailing a life of mischief in Rheos and thought you'd have some fun putting him on the line." He pointed the boy behind him, and then put a hand on his shoulder pushing him forward for Olivier to take a better look. "This is Fausto No Last Name. Fausto, greet the lady."

"F-Fuhrer Armstrong!" Fausto said trembling and he bowed miserably. "It's an honor, Sir, Ma'am, uh-"

Delighted, Olivier let out a sound pretty similar to a snort and Roy tried his best to listen closer to see if she'd do it again, but with no such luck.

"Stand up tall, child," she said firmly and Fausto obeyed, his back straight. Roy stepped back to let her take a look at him. "Did the General lend you some clothes? They look terrible, I'm not surprised. I'm sure Alex would  _love_  to go shopping with you, Mustang. Fashion has been passed down the Armstrong line for generations."

"You're so funny, Ollie," Roy replied with a roll of eyes.

"Stop calling me that if you want to have more kids," she said with unfaltering calm and both men in that room gulped. "Now, how old are you, kid?"

"Fourteen, Ma'am."

"Fourteen?" Olivier turned to Roy again. "You're picking up strays again, Mustang? Are you feeling nostalgic because your boys are all grown up with their own families now? I saw the photo of Ed's kids in your office. Aren't you a little young to have three grandkids already?"

"Now, who's pressing their luck in here, Olivier?" Roy replied and she smiled, just this discreet turn of mouth that only those who knew her very well would see.

"You talk as if you're in any position of power compared to me. That's cute." Roy bit his tongue to keep a reply from escaping and Olivier seemed pleased with it. "Jasmine, interview the kid, see if he's fit to work here."

"Yes, Ma'am," Jasmine was by her side in a heartbeat and ushered the kid outside. "Let's see what we can do for you, Fausto."

The kid sent a last glance at Roy who nodded reassuringly and as soon as they were out of view Olivier turned to a door that led to a corridor. Roy followed her without a word knowing where she was leading him. They had had enough meetings at the Armstrong estate for him to mildly understand where everything was.

"You're lucky to find me at home today, Roy," Olivier said walking ahead of him with determination. She opened a door to the left and he entered in the office after her, closing the door behind him. She sat on an armchair by the window and he took the seat in front of her, crossing his fingers on his lap.

"I knew you have a meeting tomorrow with Emperor Ling that is important, so I figured you'd like to prepare for it out of Central command."

Olivier raised an eyebrow.

"Always so observant, huh?" Roy smirked. "I assume you had a nice weekend. How's Riza?"

"Big," he answered. "The baby is growing a lot and complaining about the lack of space. Her sleep schedule is a mess, but overall she's great. She looks beautiful."

"Always did, Mustang," Olivier said like the fact it was. Roy nodded.

"Lucky me I saw her first," he said and this time Olivier smiled for real. "How is  _your_  pretty thing?"

Was Olivier…  _blushing_? That was certainly a first. Her smile changed to something sort of sad and she sighed letting her hair cover most of her face as she lowered her head in something oddly similar to shyness. The things she was capable of doing when no one was around amazed Roy.

"Still forbidden, just like yours," she answered and then looked at him through her bangs. "Maybe more."

Roy leaned back on the armchair getting comfortable.

"You know what is bullshit?" he said with a hint of annoyance. He was stepping in dangerous territory – let Roy Mustang get started on that subject and you'd have a rant for hours. "No one, and I mean  _no fucking one_ , should be giving a fuck about what we do in our rooms. Our personal lives are exactly that: personal. I mean, we're professionals, the best there are by a long shot, so why on earth can't we love who we love freely? Baffles me."

"And I was here thinking that a few days with the lady and the baby would get you in a better mood," Olivier said calmly, all her composure recovered.

"It did," Roy assured. "But having to leave them… ugh, it kills me. Don't let me keep talking, what about you? What's her name again?"

There it was again – the tiniest sign of vulnerability Olivier Mira Armstrong could ever let show. Had him not known her better, he would've missed it entirely, but if he didn't know her so well, he wouldn't be able to bring up anything that'd make her vulnerable in the first place. Hell, Roy doubted even Olivier's siblings knew much about her love life. The only reason  _he_  knew was because he saw them in the same room and understood in a heartbeat.

"Vostok," she said. "Colonel Anastasia Vostok."

"Anastasia, now that's a pretty name," Roy said, a hand on his chin as he thought about it. "Maybe I can name my baby Anastasia, if it's a girl."

"You wouldn't  _dare_ ," Olivier replied narrowing her eyes and he smirked. It was so easy to provoke her.

"What, it's pretty!"

"Leave her out of this, Mustang," she said firmly, but also playfully almost. "First of all, you're having a boy."

"I want to, but I don't know," he confessed. "Gotta be prepared for anything. It'd be neat to have a boy, though. I would teach him everything! Can you imagine having a mini-me around?"

"I can, but I don't want to."

"But I can teach everything for a daughter too," Roy continued as if she hadn't interrupted. "Between Riza and I, she's going to be the most lethal child ever!"

"Roy." Olivier interrupted and he looked at her. "Shut up."

He scoffed and crossed his arms and she rolled her eyes.

"Second of all, if you really do have a girl, you should give her an 'R' name, to match."

Roy gasped theatrically at that.

"Olivier! I did not know you could be so  _tacky_! I'd expect it from Alex, but you? Is that an Armstrong thing passed down for generations too?" He made a show of posing with his fist up and if there was anything within her reach, Roy was sure Olivier would throw it at him.

"You really have a death wish, Mustang," she said and he relaxed again.

"Come on, Ollie, we have to have the bickering otherwise we'd get bored. You're letting me talk too much, tell me about your Colonel. Where is she now?"

"You like the sound of your own voice, it's easier to just let you blab," she replied and he raised an eyebrow. Olivier sighed. "Warringstown, all the way down south."

"Oh," he said trying to recollect everything he remembered about Colonel Vostok, an impressive woman with red hair and green eyes. She looked fit for the South's weather alright. "The Ice Queen and the Summer Queen,  _that's hot_."

"Get out of my house, Mustang."

"Hey, do you know if down south the female officers really can use miniskirts as their uniform?"

Olivier pointed at the door.

"Out!"

"Sir, yes, Sir," Roy said playfully getting up with his hands up. Olivier called upon him again before he got to the door, though.

"Roy? Tell Riza I send my regards."

"I will," he opened the door and offered her a small bow. "Fuhrer Armstrong."

[...]

"Sir?" Havoc called knocking on Roy's door. He was the General's ride to the train station that morning. Roy had been dealing with those knocks and callings at least once a week for the past couple of months, always followed by the same question – "Is the baby born yet?"

"Jean, I swear to fucking God," Roy replied, but this time he was met with Havoc's teasing smirk. He sighed when he saw the expression of the lieutenant. "It's due in August."

"Oh, yeah, because it was conceived at the beginning of December…" he said smugly. "Chief, if the kid was made in Xing, does that mean that you can reclaim a Xingese nationality for it?"

Roy rolled his eyes and Havoc laughed. He opted to just get his suitcase and pass by the lieutenant.

"If you're going to keep talking, I'll get a cab."

Havoc followed shortly, closing the door behind him.

"Come on, Chief, did you at least consider my suggestion?"

"No," Roy answered getting in the car. Havoc took the driver's seat.

"You didn't…?"

"No, you're not going to be my child's godfather," the General said coldly and Havoc pretty much pouted. "I won't have you turning my kid on the wrong direction, you're not exactly a good example of a person."

Havoc gasped dramatically.

"Hurtful, Sir," he said with a hand on his chest. The same hand drew out a pack of smokes and he fished one out, putting it between his lips. Roy raised an eyebrow. "Have fire?"

"No."

"What use is a Flame Alchemist…" Havoc mumbled looking for his lighter and finding it in his jeans pocket. Roy looked over out the window feeling both anxious and content. He managed to get 27 days off work and decided to go surprise Riza on her birthday.

Well, technically he was going on her birthday eve, but that would be a surprise anyway. And to be honest, he actually was considering Havoc to be the baby's godfather, but he wouldn't give confirmation until Riza gave the green light. The only thing they knew for sure was that Gracia was going to be the godmother.

They arrived at the train station shortly. It was early in the morning and the station was relatively empty, waiting for the trains from neighbor cities to arrive bringing in the workers. The first train East would leave at oh-six hundred sharp, and they arrived relatively early, meaning that they still could share an overpriced coffee at the bakery across the street.

"Hold this," Roy said handing his cup of coffee to Havoc, who took it absently.

Roy clapped his hands once and then closed his fist, extinguishing the lieutenant's cigarette without ceremony.

"Oh, come on!" Havoc protested fiercely letting the fag fall from his lips and almost dropping it on his coffee.

"That's why you're a shitty runner," Roy said simply, taking his coffee back. He sipped it calmly and sat down on a bench in front of the train he would be taking in a few minutes. "And why you're a bad influence to my kid."

"Are you saying that if I quit smoking I can be Little Mustang's godfather?" Havoc asked expectantly.

"I am not."

Clearly deflating, Havoc took the seat next to Roy on the bench.

"I wasn't going to quit anyway," he said defiantly and Roy tried to hide his smirk by sipping his coffee again.

"You have to have your own kids to distract you, Jean," Roy said casually. "I mean, wasn't that the point of Rebecca quitting the military in the first place? So you two could have a family together?"

"Yeah, Chief, but the thing about having kids is that I'd have to take care of them," Havoc said as if it was such a big argument and Roy shook his head. "If it's someone else's kid, I can just pass by, do a little spoiling and hand it back to the parents when I get bored or the it starts to fuss."

Roy chuckled.

"Yeah, maybe you  _shouldn't_  have kids."

The whistle announced the boarding for the East train and both men sighed. That was it, Roy's break was officially beginning as soon as he stepped into that train. They got up at the same time and stood in front of each other, their empty cups in hand.

"You're in charge now, Lieutenant," Roy said firmly. "I trust you to keep the men in line until I come back."

"Yes, Sir," Havoc answered borderline saluting him. "And please report when Little Mustang is born."

"I'll think about it."

"And bring pictures."

"Jean."

"Sir."

Roy took a deep breath and then relaxed.

"Behave, okay?"

"I always behave."

"Debatable. But I trust you."

"Thank you, Sir."

They shook hands and smiled. Such formalities, sometimes it was hard to break those. Roy got his bag and got in the train. It was finally time to go be with his family.

[...]

Forty weeks sharp.

If Roy checked the calendar on the wall of Riza's bedroom in the middle of the night he would see that August 4 was the day that closed the forty weeks of pregnancy, but he was too busy rushing to the end of the hall and insistently knocking on his sister's door.

"Mel! Amelia! Wake up!" he called, still knocking. On the other side, he heard Amelia complain, so he insisted even more. "MEL!"

"I'M COMING!" she shouted back and opened the door brusquely, her robe half covering her small frame. Amelia was shorter than Riza; she had a friendly round face, black eyes and hair, and her dark skin contrasted beautifully with her light pink pajamas. " _What?_ "

"It's Riza," he said without missing a beat. "I think the baby is coming."

"Already?" Amelia asked shaking her head surprised. "First borns generally come late," she said already passing by him and pushing away the sleep. Roy followed her close. "Where is she?"

"In our room," he answered, even though Mel already was in there rushing to a pained Riza. "She woke up a few times tonight, and then when she was getting up to go to the bathroom…"

"Riza, one to ten, how's the pain?"

"Six," Riza gasped, doubling over and Roy stepped in her direction, reaching out and feeling useless. What could he do for her now? How could he be of any help?

"You think the water broke?"

Riza nodded. With only the light of the moon coming from the window, it was hard to see how half of the bed was wet. Amelia seemed to sense Roy's nervousness, because she looked at him frowning and then she was a hundred percent in doctor mode.

"Okay, we're going to take you downstairs to the birth room I prepared. What time is it?"

Roy needed a second to realize she had directed the question to him and then he looked at the clock.

"Four seventeen," he said and something flashed in Mel's eyes as she helped Riza to her feet.

" _Military_ ," she mumbled. "Can you walk? Or is the contraction still strong?"

Riza took a few deep breaths and straightened, her face the example of composure. It worried Roy, because he knew she would downplay any pain she was feeling – it was her first instinct as a soldier, and he didn't want her to do that, not now. Thankfully, Amelia seemed to be aware.

"From now on, Riza," Mel said leading her gently, Roy on her other side. "I'll need you to strip down from all your military training and just be honest with your body. Every single detail is important and we'll need to communicate to make sure you and the baby are okay. My alkahestry can keep track just to a certain point; you, as the mother, will have to listen to your baby and lead the way, understand?"

"Yes," Riza answered.

They descended to the ground floor slowly, respecting Riza's tempo, and as soon as they hit the floor, Amelia rushed ahead to make sure that everything in the room was in order. With her medicinal background, they thought it would be a good idea to let her have her own office in the farm house, thinking about all the people working there, the neighbor farms and Riza and the baby, of course. It was fully equipped, just like the office she shared with the Elric brothers in downtown Resembool.

All lights were on when Roy entered with Riza, and the room was cozy with light blue curtains and an actual bed instead of a hospital cot. The sheet on the bed bored an alkahestry circle that Roy didn't know what it meant, but could muse with a few guesses. Amelia was checking the cabinet, comparing it to a list in her hands and she looked at them when they arrived.

"Okay," she said with a heavy sigh. "Riza, try to get comfortable, it's the only thing you can do at the moment, and  _don't_  hesitate to say when the next contraction starts, we'll start to monitor them now. But first and foremost, can you lay on the circle? I'll check on the baby."

Riza did as instructed, Roy keeping close just in case and he watched his sister get to work. Amelia had a pocket watch in hand and she kept her eyes on it as the circle shone with its power. Satisfied after a whole minute passed, Mel offered them a reassuring smile.

"Baby is fine, but we have to keep track of it because of the water. It will need oxygen now, so it might be a faster labor. I can't tell for sure how long, but you most definitely will be holding your baby before the sun is down."

Roy exchanged a look with Riza and they both smiled. She looked fine so far, none of the painful expression she had when the contraction was happening. It was almost as if she wasn't locking her jaw in pain just ten minutes ago. Amelia got up and got a cotton dress from the cabinet in the same color of the curtains and offered it to him.

"Can you help her put this on?" she requested. "I'm going to change and I'll go get Madam Celine."

"The cook?" Roy asked confused and she nodded, not giving space for explanations as she dropped instructions pointing at things in the room and putting things in his hands.

"Make sure that she changes position and walks a little, also make sure that she's hydrated, that she goes to the bathroom, and mark down the time of her contractions here, as well as how long they last. When I get back, I'll check the dilatation. Hopefully, she will have another contraction soon. I'll be right back."

A little dizzy, Roy looked down at his hands and saw that she had given him the pocket watch, a pencil and a piece of paper. He put everything on the small desk near the bed and when he turned to Riza, she already was struggling to take off her pajama shirt, so he rushed to help her.

"How are you feeling?" he asked tossing her shorts in a basket on the corner of the room.

"Like I need to pee," she answered and he nodded going to her aid, but she shook her head. "I can go alone, don't worry."

She left the door of the bathroom open and he watched her torn between going to the kitchen to get a jar of water or staying with her in case another contraction started. He made his resolve when he saw her drink from the sink after washing her hands, opting to stay with her and wait. Amelia said she wouldn't take long and he believed her.

While Roy waited for Riza to come back to the room, he tried to analyze the circle on the sheet. He learned a little of alkahestry with Scar during the reconstruction of Ishval, and every time he met with Alphonse, the boy tried to explain it to him some, but it still looked awfully complicated in his head, which was ridiculous because alkahestrian circles were much simpler than the alchemical ones Roy'd been drawing his whole life. He kept telling himself that all he had to do was step back and look at it again with his mind open, but the General hadn't been finding the time to do so.

"Ugh, fuck!" Riza cussed catching his attention. She had both hands on the doorframe, her head low.

"Is that a contraction?" he asked already rushing to get the watch and she nodded, her cheeks flustered. Trembling, Roy looked at the time and wrote it down, his handwriting miserable. "Four forty-eight," he told her.

One of Riza's hands dropped to her belly and she leaned forward, so he rushed to her side, guiding her to the bed.

"Pain still a six?"

"Six point five, maybe," Riza told him. Roy didn't know if he believed her, but he didn't question her. "My back hurts."

"Massage her," Amelia said getting back right on cue. She nodded in encouragement and Roy proceeded to give Riza a back massage. "Tell him where it hurts, Riza."

Right after her came Madam Celine with a jar of water and a ceramic cup, and behind the cook came a teenage girl he had only seen from afar carrying towels and sheets. Amelia took the watch from the desk and looked from it to Riza until the contraction ended and she relaxed under Roy's touch.

Sighing, she leaned against his shoulder and Roy embraced Riza but they were quickly ushered to change their position for Amelia to check on the dilatation. Riza lied on her back with a few pillows keeping her in a semi-sitting position, legs spread for Mel to determine and tell them that the baby was actually halfway through.

"Five centimeters already, you have got to be feeling more pain than a six," Amelia scolded and Riza shook her head.

"I know how to measure pain, Mel, trust me," she said with certainty, making the alkahestrian glance at Roy briefly as if telling him that this was his fault. He had no clue how, but she might be right.

"And you hid the early stage of labor quite well too, didn't tell anyone."

Riza didn't reply at first. If Roy was to say that he didn't notice her getting tense and extra quiet during the evening, he would be lying – he  _did_  notice, but every time he had asked if she was fine, she assured him that the baby had been doing that all the time since before he arrived, so he didn't think much of it.

"I thought it was one of those false alarms," Riza finally said. "You told me so many times that the first born comes late."

"They do," Amelia said nodding. She fished a notebook from the desk that Roy hadn't seen before; he guessed she brought it in after she changed clothes. She flipped the pages quickly, getting more to the end and scoffed when she read something. "Of course," she mumbled to herself.

"What?" Roy and Riza asked at the same time and with the same intensity. They barely processed the other two women going about in the room.

Amelia looked up at them again and showed them the page. It was a journal, or more of a planner. On the page to their left the title informed that it was about "WEEK 40" and on the far right Mel pointed the last day of that week – August 4. That very day that was getting born early, through the window they could see the first rays of sunshine that painted the sky in pink.

That had to be a sign.

"Roy, I need a few more favors," Amelia requested as the teenager talked to Riza about changing position.

"Sure," he answered right away.

"Call Alphonse, tell him I'm with Riza and ask him to take care of my patients today? Also, you might want to call Gracia, Grumman, Mother and the Elric-Rockbells."

"And Jean," Riza added offering him a knowing smile. Roy smiled too.

"Can you handle him?" he asked, just to make sure. They had been pondering the option the whole week, but deep down they knew that the choice was already made.

"What do you think?" she replied and his smile widened just for a second, because Riza drew in a breath and held to the girl for dear life. "Fucking shit, why doesn't it come with warnings?"

"It does," Amelia told her. "You just have to pay attention." She turned to Roy then and raised her eyebrows. "Roy? Calls."

"Yeah, sure," he said backing away and going to the living room where he could still hear Riza's complaints. He got the phone book and revisited the list in his head. Alphonse, Gracia, Grumman, Jean, Mother, Winry and Ed. He flipped the pages as he prioritized, dialed and waited.

" _Elric-Rockbell's home_ ," Edward said picking up on the sixth ring.

"Fullmetal," Roy greeted and he heard the sharp breath Edward sucked in on the other side of the line.

" _Dammit, Mustang, do you even know what time it is?_ " he replied irritated.

"As a matter of fact, I do," he said smugly. "As we have to keep an eye on the clock for Riza's contractions are about twenty minutes apart."

That drew the young man's attention. Roy could picture Edward going all business mode. He had been around when Lydia was born and enjoyed to watch Fullmetal go about acting like he knew exactly what to do, because they already had a kid. Well, until the baby was out and they found out it was a girl.

" _I'll get Winry and we'll be right there_ ," he said right away.

"Wait, wait!" Roy rushed to interrupt. "Do me a favor first?"

With Edward swearing that he would go over to the next hill to give Al Mel's note, Roy proceeded to call the others leaving Havoc for last. It was past five hundred when he finally called his first lieutenant.

" _Sir?_ " Havoc said after Roy greeted him. " _Everything alright?_ "

"Tell me something, Jean," Roy said as seriously as he could. "How many leaves can you have this year yet?"

" _A week or so, Sir. Why?_ "

"If you were to request a day today and hop in the next train to Resembool with the wife, would that be too bad?"

" _I don't know, Sir, I'll have to check with Becca and then Shesk-wait a minute, why do I have to go to Resembool?_ "

"Well, of course it is because Gracia and Madam Christmas are coming too," Roy said casually. "If you hurry up, you might be able to catch the same train as them and not force poor Al to make several trips."

" _Sir? Are you telling me what I think you're saying?_ " Havoc asked. He sounded almost dreamy and Roy almost lost his cool.

"You won't be able to arrive before he or she is born, but I think you know what I mean."

On the other side of the line, Havoc howled in celebration.

" _BECCA, LITTLE MUSTANG IS ARRIVING TODAY!_ " Roy heard Jean exclaim, probably waking up the whole neighborhood. " _AND I'M THE GODFATHER! WE GOTTA GO!_ "

" _Stop screaming, Jean!_ " Rebecca scolded. Roy laughed.

" _We'll be there today_ ," Havoc guaranteed.

"Hurry up."

There was only one more person Roy wanted to call, but for that the baby had to be born already, so it'd have to wait. No big deal, actually, he'd better get back to Riza's side anyway.

[...]

The first to arrive was Grumman, poor Augustus stayed outside checking to see if the car had survived to make the trip back, worried that he'd have to venture in the actual city nearby to look for parts, so fast he had to make the bumpy ride to get to the farm. Lucky for him, the Elric-Rockbells arrived sometime around nine hundred and Winry promised to go over the car with him.

As a matter of fact, the Grumman farm – charmingly named The Cherry Route – was not exactly in any city of Amestris, but it was so close to Resembool that the Elrics normally took forty minutes to arrive, three times less than someone coming from Rheos Falls.

"Sorry it took so long for us to come," Ed explained himself bouncing a wailing Stephen from side to side and peaking over Roy's shoulder to see inside the room. "We had to, uh-" he trailed off, muffled by Riza's screams and cusses and Roy made a face.

According to Amelia, she was finally dilated enough to start pushing and the contractions had been overlapping. Roy had been instructed to keep his mouth shut during that time.

"We had to find someone to help Granny with the other two, you know?" Ed continued, trying to be heard over all the screaming.

"The devilish ones?"

"Don't call my kids devilish!"

"Well, they are! This one is trying to compete with my wife in a Who Cries the Loudest contest!"

"I'M NOT YOUR FUCKING WIFE!" Riza shouted at him and Roy looked back at her smiling. He quickly gave up on trying to look charming, because she was not buying it at all.

"Uh, that was cold," Edward provoked. Even Stephen stopped crying, for a change. "I didn't know Hawkeye could swear like that, I'm impressed." Roy narrowed his eyes at him then, so Edward gave him one of his signature grins. "I'm going to wait in the living room…"

At some moments, Roy wished he could wait in the living room too, but he couldn't possibly leave Riza alone in that so important moment. It was hard to watch her, because she was in pain and there was nothing that he could do to effectively help her during that process. Amelia had told them during the labor that she  _could_  ease the pain with alkahestry, but that wasn't recommended, since pain was the indicator of the baby's progress, so Roy had to watch from the sidelines as Riza sweat and shouted and pushed with all her might.

As it turned out, Madam Celine had been helping deliver the babies of the farm staff for a couple of decades now and the girl, Noella, daughter of a shepherd, was her apprentice, and they were actually of great help during those excruciating six hours.

Roy held Riza's hand and offered her water; he even watched the delivery for a while, mesmerized by the anatomy of it all, letting out some " _Holy shits_ " and " _Wows_ " every now and then, but most of all, he waited. And what Amelia, Alphonse and Madam Celine would later call a quick delivery actually was six long hours of pain and push until the baby was out and crying, and Riza almost passed out exhausted, but their baby was there! Their own very baby and-

"It's a girl!" Mel exclaimed with a sparkle in her eyes.

If his heart skipped a beat, Roy couldn't tell. As a matter of fact, those first fifteen minutes of his daughter's life were at the same time a blur and very clear in his mind. Mel cleaned the baby as Riza pushed the placenta out, and then the tiniest human being was put on her chest, no more cries, just this sort of anxiety that suddenly stopped once she was in contact with her mother again.

Hungry, the baby figured out how to eat on the first try and Riza commented hoarsely how weird it felt to feed, but Roy saw it in her eyes – a  _love_  so intense and blatant… he didn't think she minded the weirdness.

Their daughter had black hair and grey Amestrian eyes, so he supposed her eyes would be brown like Riza's. After she ate, Madam Celine instructed them on how to make her burp, how to watch for her not to choke and then offered scissors for Roy to cut the cord. Only then Amelia and Noella took the baby to give her a proper bath and Roy assisted, because Riza was busy eating something.

"Miss Riza, darling," Madam Celine said after she finished eating and helping her to her feet. "You need to walk a little, and you need a shower, right? I'll help you, and then you can go to your room have some rest."

"The baby…" Riza protested, but Noella was handing the little bundle to Roy and he smiled at Riza.

"It's okay, I've got her. I'll take her to you when you're ready."

Riza held his stare for a moment too long and then nodded, agreeing to be led to the bathroom. She was limping a little, but Riza was strong, Roy was sure she would be a hundred percent after a little rest. He wondered how different she must have been feeling now without the baby's extra weight – the baby who was making some lovely little noises in his arms to catch his attention.

He looked down at her. His daughter. She was finally here and he could hardly believe it, even if she was a real person in his arms. She looked like a knee, but certainly the most beautiful knee he'd ever seen, and she was looking at him so attentively. Roy sighed happily.

"Hello, Little Mustang," he said just to her. "Nice to officially meet you. Do you want to meet your great-grandpa? Your godparents will arrive soon, so for now, Fullmetal and Winry will have to make do. Oh, and Stephen. He'll probably be your friend as you grow up, because you're the same age. What do you think?"

Roy looked up at Amelia, then, and she smiled.

"Can I take her to the others?"

"Of course!" Mel exclaimed. "Go ahead, they're waiting."

And he went, lightly bouncing his daughter on the way to the living room where everyone, including Augustus, was listening to the radio; all the faces turned to him as soon as he stepped in the room, eyes betraying the anxiety to go see the baby. Roy went straight to Grumman, the old General expectantly reached out to receive the baby.

"Grumman," Roy said. "Meet your great granddaughter."

Winry swooned delighted and Ed got up to look at the baby, done with waiting for permission. It was the cue for everyone else to do the same, and luckily most of the visitors hadn't arrived yet. Roy didn't want his baby to be overwhelmed in her first hours.

"Oh, thank God she looks like Riza," Grumman said, making Roy roll his eyes. "What did you name her?"

[...]

If someone, anyone asked, Olivier would say that she absolutely despised family meals, but in truth she actually enjoyed them. They were a great chance to bully her little brother and praise her little sisters, and also to remind everyone that she was, well, the motherfucking Fuhrer of Amestris. For that, and a few other smaller reasons, Olivier absolutely hated to be interrupted in said family meals.

That day, the Armstrong siblings were in the middle of an argument about summer galas when a servant interrupted them with the telephone on a plate.

"General Mustang is on the phone, Ms. Olivier," the servant said keeping his head low. "He claims it's urgent."

She was ready to hang up on Roy's smug face, but part of her got curious to know what had led him to call in the middle of his vacation. That was the only explanation for her to pick up the phone.

"You better have a very good excuse to call me at this unholy hour, Mustang," she said as a way of hello.

" _Always so charming, Ollie_ ," he replied smugly.

"Don't call me Ollie," she said firmly.

" _What, not even when it's to tell you that I followed your advice?_ " he asked and she frowned. What advice?

"How's the vacation?"

" _So nice of you to ask, Madam Fuhrer! It is great! As a matter of fact, I'm having the best day ever today and I just thought it would be nice to let you know._ "

He went quiet for a moment, and very briefly Olivier wondered why, a discreet frown hidden by her hair. Faithfully on their seats, the rest of her family watched the exchange with mild interest, Alex being the more concentrated in that call out of them all, he didn't stop staring at her for a minute.

And then, Olivier understood the hidden message.

The baby was born.

She almost smiled, and then she remembered that the world had been graced with a new Mustang, so she kept it down. She would have to meet the little one and decide if they were all right.

"So?" she asked, incapable of hiding her curiosity.

" _Three kilos and seven hundred, fifty… one centimeters and the cutest nose_ ," Roy reported to her. " _She's… perfect_."

"A girl?" Olivier asked, her voice something between surprise and excitement. "That can't be right!"

She could swear Roy would have a boy, it's what she put money into, mostly because he just looked like the kind of guy who'd have a son and take him everywhere like a Mini Me, as he had mentioned before. A girl… it changed everything. Olivier could not wait to meet the new Roy Mustang, father of a daughter. That would certainly cause some changes, she supposed.

" _It is most certainly right_ ," he guaranteed.

"And what is the advice you followed?" she asked and he pretty much chuckled – or at least that's how it sounded.

" _I can't wait for you to meet my little Remi Mustang, Ollie. I think you'll love her._ "

An R name! He actually did it! That was so amusing, Olivier could laugh –  _could_ , but didn't. She was sure Mustang would read right into her words anyway.

"Well, who'd think you were so tacky," she said simply and Roy laughed. "Oh, wait, I did!"

Remi, that was a pretty name. Olivier approved it. Now she only had to approve the little human the name belonged to, but she already had a feeling she would like the girl. Even if she was a Mustang.


	4. Adjusted

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who's reading, reviewing, leaving kudos, following and favoriting! I hope you enjoy this chapter, even though it has a little angst.
> 
> I hope I'll see your review at the end! See you in a couple of weeks :D

" _I never know what come around, I never looked ahead.  
I'm wreckin' rules and it's pulling us down, the words I wished I'd said.  
Shadow you're drawn and you got your ways, Shadow you're painted red.  
Moving afar, rolling away; in the corner, believe, why won't you stay?  
Won't you stay babe?_"  
 _Drawn_  – De La Soul ft. Little Dragon

Finally, Riza lowered Remi into her crib and buttoned up her shirt before she laid eyes on the baby again and swooned. They had made a really cute baby, that was for sure.

A week ago, when she spent the morning in suffering and the farm was filled with guests, Alphonse, the sweetest human being Riza had ever had the pleasure to meet, said an excited " _Of course! Two good looking people can't help but make good looking babies!_ " (Roy was certain that Al had a crush on her, but Riza told him not to be ridiculous, the kid had his own wife to beam at.)

That first week had been a crazy ride, for sure. Besides Amelia, Chris Mustang came over again to help, and of course Roy had been the best. They divided the chores equally, and would both make time to take care of Remi. He particularly liked the baths, and to watch them when Riza was feeding. She liked to sing lullabies and to sit outside watching the lambs, or by the river, where it cracked into a small waterfall just behind the property.

One week in Remi's life meant that Roy's time with them was down to less than a half, and for the past seven days they had been nothing but exhausted. Having a baby was incredible yet time consuming and they were feeling the pressure. It didn't matter that Remi slept quite well or barely had strong cramps, babies were a hell of a lot of work.

Meaning: they didn't have nearly enough alone time.

Absently, Riza caressed Remi's cheek. She didn't remember Stephen Elric having that velvet feeling on her fingertips, but then again, he was more than a new born when she met him. Winry had told her that in these first six months the baby would change so much. Her Remi had the most delicious baby smell and the cutest pouty mouth Grandpa said came from her; when she slept, she would make this small sucking sound that was just too adorable. More than once already it happened that she and Roy would just sit there with Remi in the crib or cradled in their arms and they would just  _watch_  her for over an hour.

Riza could not believe sometimes that this was her life now. She was a  _mother_. After all the things she'd done, she managed to do some right with the Ishvalans and to make peace with herself to the point where when they made it back from Xing and her period didn't come she said " _Alright, let's do this._ " Even though "this" was a risk and a liability.

Riza Hawkeye had a baby girl who was beautiful, healthy and was Roy's. Now, she'd be lying if she said that she had ever dreamed about that, but hell if she wasn't living the dream!

She looked at the clock then and saw that it was almost dinner time, but she wasn't hungry for food, she was craving something else. Climbing down the stairs, Riza saw Roy sitting in the living room reading a book and keeping company to Madam Christmas, so she figured he wasn't so busy.

"Roy?" Riza called from the stairs and he looked up at her. She just looked at him and he left the book aside, followed her up and to their room.

"What is i-oh!" he exclaimed when she closed the distance between them, capturing him in a kiss. She knew it always surprised him, because they spent so much time being composed professionals.

"Baby is sleeping," she hushed and his eyebrows went up, a smirk made its way on his face.

"Well, in that case…" he said closing the door silently and leaning against it.

Smiling, Riza started to unbutton her shirt and Roy mirrored her before he cupped her cheeks and kissed her hungrily. She matched his desperation, arms going around his neck, teeth busing on his lower lip, and with a grunt his hands grabbed her ass and lifted her up.

She locked her legs around his waist and he carried her not so far to the dresser by the door that was just the right height – they knew. The used it plenty of times already –, sitting her on it and starting kissing down her neck. Riza swallowed a moan; her hands quickly worked on the button and fly of his pants and she took hold of Roy, who moaned on her skin, his hands on her breasts with delicacy despite his want.

Any progress they would have from there was interrupted when the door opened and Amelia squeaked turning her back to them and covering her face with some sheets she was carrying.

"Oh! My God! Sorry!" she exclaimed. Neither of them moved. "I was just bringing these- oh, God, this is weird- it's… you were so  _quiet_!"

"The baby is sleeping," Riza said matter of factly and Mel nodded.

"Right, of course," she said, still not looking at them, which was good, because they still were partially undressed and with their hands in unorthodox places. "Uh… dinner is ready, by the way. I'm gonna… leave…"

And she did closing the door after her. When she was gone, Riza and Roy exchanged a look and started to giggle. He kissed her nose and she pecked his lips. They would let things grow from there, but Riza's stomach growled, so they decided to go have dinner.

Chris Mustang scolded them between bites of lamb ribs for traumatizing Amelia for life, which just made them giggle more as they gave her half-assed apologies. Mel had always been the sweet sister with a good heart, but she was not less naughty than everyone else and Riza knew it very well.

"So, Mel," Riza said casually. "How's Blake Fischer's leg? All good?"

She looked up at Amelia sitting right across from her and saw her blush, which made Riza smirk. Blake Fischer lived on the other side of the river and he had broken his leg when he fell from a horse a month or so ago. Now, Blake was the eldest of the Fischer brothers and a very skilled horseman, but he had a soft spot for beautiful women according to Madam Celine, and it didn't help that Mel was swimming in the river the moment he was passing by.

At first, Riza thought that Amelia had helped him heal because one, she was a doctor, and two, she felt bad, but they had been having way too many encounters lately for it to be just professional.

"Oh, yeah…" Roy jumped in staring at his sister. "I've been thinking that perhaps I should pay that Blake guy a visit, don't you think, Sis? After all, you spend so much time with him-"

"Don't even try it, Roy!" Amelia interrupted and he raised an eyebrow.

"I don't know, Mel. I'm your older brother, I have to know what are his intentions with you."

Chris elbowed Roy so hard he almost fell off his chair and Amelia sighed relieved, but it didn't last long.

"Stop being ridiculous, Roy boy, I'll go myself," Chris said, making Mel groan in displeasure and Roy laugh so hard he snorted.

And she really did go after dinner, taking Remi with her under the claims that Riza and Roy needed some "mommy and daddy time" that they made great use of, thank you very much.

[...]

On the morning of August 20, Riza woke up next to a very pensive Roy and she wondered if he had slept at all. He was staring at the ceiling, his hand absently rubbing her arm, his hair sticking in every direction. He had to leave that day and none of them wanted him to, but Riza knew better than anyone that duty was a boss ass bitch one had to obey.

"My kingdom for your thoughts," she said sleepily as a way of good morning. She expected a grin from him that didn't come, and instead Roy frowned.

"You remember that case we had with the Elric Brothers three years ago?"

"The one in Milos?" Riza asked and he nodded. She remembered, it was one of her favorite cases. "Yes, what about it?"

"Edward," he said simply and she raised an eyebrow. He didn't really expect her to understand his reasoning with just a name, did he? "We asked a rather unfair thing out of him, leaving home when Winry was pregnant for a case we really didn't know if he'd be back in time to see his daughter be born. He told me a thousand times that I didn't  _understand_  and he was right."

"We solved the case in time," Riza said with a frown of her own. Roy was still staring at the ceiling. "And you were here when  _our_ baby was born, so…"

"It's not that," Roy interrupted and he looked at her. "It's something he told me about missing his wife. He said ' _Imagine if you have to be separated from Hawkeye_ ' and I said that would never happen."

Riza's frown turned into a surprised expression, and then she smiled warmly. That softy, silly General.

"Roy," she said touching his face. "Don't think I don't want you here with me, I do. But believe me when I say it, it's  _all right_."

He sighed and even pouted and her smile grew. His arms came tightly around her and she rested her head on his chest happily, even though it was a really warm day. So much for make the best of their time.

The door burst open and the next thing they knew was Hayate jumping on them, trying to lick both at the same time and making them laugh. They always kept the door ajar because he was used to sleeping between the bed and Remi's crib, but he liked to go outside early in the morning. Now, his dirt stained paws were all over the sheets as he practically pushed his humans from the bed.

"All right, all right!" Roy exclaimed and Black Hayate dropped on his pillow, belly up, tail wagging from side to side, and grinning at them. Riza petted his belly. "The country is making him reckless, Riza."

She chuckled.

"I'll remind him of how to behave later," Riza said and then looked up at him. "You'll be back in a few weeks, won't you?"

Roy nodded.

"At every opportunity I can take," he guaranteed.

[...]

Three years ago, about that time, Roy had been in this same city holding another baby as he waited. At the time, he marveled about Jude Elric's curious stare and baby smell and wondered if would ever come the day when he'd have his own baby.

Now he did, his Remi. Her hair was so soft and she smelled so good. She always escaped from her sheets cocoon and held on to his finger so very tightly and looked up at him with those grey eyes that were beginning to have a hint of brown. She fit so nicely in his arms and weighed nothing.

Roy could stare at her forever.

The sun was blocked in Resembool's train station and Roy looked up at Riza, who was standing in front of him. She smiled and put a hand on his shoulder tenderly.

"When did I get so lucky?" he wondered and saw a discreet blush appear on her cheeks.

"You didn't, Sir, train is coming."

"Who the fuck is 'Sir'?" Roy replied. "I only go back to the office tomorrow."

"Just trying to get used to it again," Riza said shrugging and he stood up, standing really close to her, Remi between them in his arms.

"There's nothing to get used to, Hawkeye," he said and leaned in to kiss her. It was a little perk of living in a small city so far from the big, militarized ones.

"Now, I can't seem to get used to  _that_ ," an irritating someone else said interrupting them. "I know I've had three years to wrap my mind around it, but I never thought I'd see Mom and Dad like that."

"I'm not your Dad, Fullmetal," Roy said annoyed and Ed smirked. That little runt just  _loved_ to piss him off, didn't he?

"Yeah, whatever," he waved it off and put a hand on his eldest child's head. "Jude, say goodbye to Grandpa."

"I'm not!" Roy grunted with a fist in the air. "Stop telling your kids we're their grandparents, I'm not old enough for that! If anything, I'm the cool, better looking uncle and  _nothing more_."

Roy was partially aware of Lydia going to Riza's side and tugging at her dress, and of Riza taking the little girl in her arms; he only really noticed when a pair of small arms went around his neck and he received a sloppy kiss on his cheek.

"Goodbye, Grandpa Uncle Roy, have a nice trip home," Lydia said and Riza, Winry and Edward failed at hiding their laughter. For now, Roy gave up.

"Goodbye, Lyds. Goodbye, Jude. Winry," he bowed his head and she half-hugged him, because she too was holding a baby. Stephen was sucking on a pacifier and his hair grew in every direction, giving him the constant look of a shocked kid.

"We'll make sure they get home safely," she guaranteed stepping back and then took Lydia's hand in her free hand. "Come on, kids, we'll wait in the car."

Jude followed after his mother and siblings, but Ed stayed there looking at Roy with his arms crossed and that annoying smirk on his face. After a few seconds, Roy sighed and put a hand on Ed's shoulder.

"You behave, all right, kid?"

Ed uncrossed his arms.

"I'm not a kid anymore," he said, the smirk fading.

"Whatever," Roy replied. Ed frowned at him.

"You're looking weird again," he said. "You only do that when you're about to say something awkwardly sentimental, so I'm just gonna… wait in the car with my family. Gee, Mustang, you really are an embarrassing parent, I'm never following your example."

"I didn't say anything," Roy said to Edward's back and then he looked at Riza. "Make him stop with that grandparents nonsense, will you? We're too damn young."

"I don't think he'll stop, Roy, the boys got quite used to us," Riza reasoned.

"Well, you clearly scare them more than me!" he whined and she smiled. She knew well that she scared the shit out of them. "We shouldn't have agreed to that case, this is all your grandfather's fault."

"I know."

The train whistled announcing the last minutes for boarding and Roy swallowed, looking down at his baby daughter and feeling his heart break in a million pieces. How could he be able to leave her? Worse, how could he ask Riza to do the same to keep following him? What kind of horrible person was he?

Remi was looking at him, her bottom lip stuck out in a little pout as she stared in concentration. He touched her soft cheek tenderly; her skin was just a shade lighter than his and now that it'd been a few weeks already, her features were getting clearer, his Xingese heritage heavily softened by Riza's delicate Amestrian characteristics, like the chin and the nose.

Roy brought her close to his face and smelled her hair; Remi's arm escaped from the cocoon again and she hit his face making him laugh and hold her tiny wrist to deposit a kiss on her even tinier fingers.

"Daddy will be back in a couple of weeks, Rems," he said and then looked at Riza and kissed her again. "This is so fucking hard," he sighed, his forehead to hers. Riza kissed his cheek lovingly and then took Remi from his arms.

"We still have a lot of work ahead of us, Roy," she said, always the one to keep him on track, a subtle reminder as to why he had to ask such hard things of her, like leaving their baby behind for God knew how long in order to make Amestris a better place. Still sucked, though.

The whistle came again and Roy hurried to get his bags and get in the train, but he stopped at the door. Riza stood there at the platform, yellow dress and a light white jacket, her hair back with a headband and their baby matching with a yellow hair clip that wasn't really necessary. She held Remi's free arm and waved.

"Bye, Daddy!" Riza said lightly rocking from side to side as the train started moving. "Come back soon, we'll be waiting."

Roy waved back, hanging on that door until the platform was too far for him to keep waving and he was forced to go to his cabin where he didn't have to pretend he wasn't crying like a child.

[...]

Winry was driving this time. She and her family agreed to spend the night at Riza's farm to keep her company. Also, Ed and Al had a few things to discuss with Amelia about their office, now that everything was ready for them to have their own place near the station. If things went according to plan, the grand opening would be the next week.

"What do you mean by three years, Ed?" Riza asked from the back seat.

"What? Oh!" Edward chuckled devilishly. "You think you were  _discreet_  in Milos?  _Please._ "

For a moment, Riza didn't say anything and Winry had to look at her through the rear view mirror to see her reaction. The Lieutenant Colonel was very calm, actually.

"So you spied?" she concluded and Ed blushed, looked out the window.

"I spied," he admitted with a sigh. Sometimes, Winry couldn't believe her husband.

[...]

From weekend to weekend winter came and went and spring blossomed. Roy would go about the day through military cases and political meetings. He would call Riza every day at least twice – one time during lunch break, the other at night –, and every other weekend, when Friday came and everybody headed to Happy Hour, he'd take the train East: Line Ishval via Resembool.

Depending on the traffic of passengers, he'd arrive around midnight and head to Plak & Elric, that was just a couple of blocks from the train station, where there most certainly would be a car waiting for him. Sometimes, one of the doctors would still be there, stuck with a late case, and he would sit to have a coffee with them. When it was Mel staying late, she'd go home with him and they would arrive at the farm equally exhausted.

Sometimes, Riza waited up for him, occupying herself with a book or a journal of things he would have to do during the week until they saw each other again. Most of the time, the planner was filled with military stuff. Riza just couldn't turn that button off, it seemed, and when questioned about it she just said that she would get bored with nothing practical to do.

Of course it was a full-time job to take care of an infant, so Roy was never surprised to see Riza fast asleep when he'd get home. She was just an efficient multitasker, that was all. So he'd go upstairs, leave his bag by the door and remove layers of clothes, he'd touch her shoulder and lean for a kiss on her cheek or forehead, whisper a ' _I'm home_ ' and take a look at Remi.

He would swear that Remi looked different every time he came back, and knowing that she would wake up soon to eat, he'd just head to bed and wait. An embarrassing amount of times, Roy'd wake up around 3 a.m. to Remi's small cries realizing that he hadn't been able to stay awake for her. Nonetheless, he'd be up before Riza could, ignoring her protests of his need to rest, and he'd take the baby from the crib and take her to her mother. He'd drift back to sleep watching Riza feed Remi and would be surprised to see that Riza had let him sleep well in the morning.

They'd make the best of their time together during those two days of freedom. They had celebrated Roy's 37th birthday a couple of months after Remi was born with a family get together at the Cherry Route and Elicia was absolutely  _enchanted_  by Remi, spending the whole day playing with her and granting her the title of surrogate little sister.

Against his better judgment, Roy would take countless photos of his girls and carry a great deal of them with him, in part because Havoc would bug him to death whenever he went back to Central, trying to get any and all information he could about his goddaughter. He was trying really hard not to go all Maes Hughes about Remi and succeeding so far.

Well, except when Olivier Armstrong called, because he enjoyed annoying her.

Before they could process it, April was upon them again and Roy had to make the trip to Cherry by car to help take some of Riza's things back to Central. It was easily the most depressing weekend of them all, with Amelia hovering around them to make sure that everything was in place and that they were comfortable with leaving Remi with her.

"Mel," Riza said softly holding Amelia's shoulders. "We trust you entirely, and we know you'll do a good job helping raise Rems while we're in Central. We'll come back every weekend, and everything will be all right."

The moment Amelia turned her back, though, Riza took Roy's hand and found themselves a quiet room to talk. The heartbreak in her eyes almost got him on his knees. He couldn't do that, couldn't make Riza leave their baby girl behind. He had been toying with an out for her for months, but never had the courage to present it to her.

"Roy, look at me," she demanded and he obeyed. "If it comes to it, I want you to physically drag me with you to Central. I mean it," she added quickly when he opened his mouth to protest. "I have to go with you, Sir, we're so close! And I believe that together we can do this."

"This… leaving?" he asked just to make sure and she nodded, a tear dropped on her cheek with the movement.

Roy reached out to wipe the tear, but Riza held his hand midway.

"No, water makes you useless," she reminded him and he smiled sadly.

"Not anymore, Lieutenant," he said, his free hand going to her neck, his forehead against hers. "Riza…"

"Just promise you'll take me with you no matter what," Riza begged. " _Please_."

He couldn't deny her, never been able to, not even when they were young. So he didn't.

"Okay," Roy said.

"You have to promise."

He looked into her eyes, at the determination that was killing her, and then nodded.

"I promise."

[...]

It was a well-known fact one shouldn't remove a curative slowly, tugging at the tips with anxious, trembling fingers, lingering when that little ache dared to say it was too much, leave it on. Riza knew it better than practically everyone, she was a professional yanker of Band-Aids, but damn if anything could prove that the country hadn't done her a lot of good was the fact that she was wandering through the cherry trees of the farm with her eight month old baby in her arms mere minutes before she was supposed to be leaving for Central.

The drive there would be something about four or five hours, and part of her was mad at Roy for not going after her once and for all, but a greater part – one that grew extremely emotional since the hormones decided to kick in a little over a year ago – was glad he didn't yet, that he was allowing her that slow-removal.

Three hundred and sixty-five days had passed and the next morning she would be waking up to Central's traffic noises instead of the farm's bird chirps, heading to the headquarters in a blue uniform instead of going to the stable to get some fresh milk with Noella's father. When she'd wake up at three in the morning, there wouldn't be a Remi to feed. Remi could sleep through the whole night now, but she liked her early snack and Riza still made sure to breastfeed her. It was weird, but she enjoyed it, and even though Remi already had a few pairs of teeth and was taking on fruits and pasty food like a pro, she liked to think that her baby liked those moments too.

"Ga-ga," Remi said reaching out for the cherry blossoms that were falling from the trees with chubby fingers, her back against Riza's chest.

The cherry season was just beginning, the trees would officially paint the farm in pink in a week, an event that Riza was hoping to see when she came to visit. Her mother used to talk about the cherry route that named the farm in hushed bedtime stories, and Riza spent her infancy imagining the view from the hills as it had been detailed to her.

"Flower," Riza said to Remi, opening her hand to let one of the blossoms fall on her hand. "Cherry flower, see Rems? Pretty and pink like your cheeks." Remi reached out again, taking the flower from Riza's hand and smashing the petals with her unmeasured baby strength, and then she let out a small sneeze that made Riza laugh. " _Atchoo_ , Mama! Perfume! You don't like the perfume of the cherries?"

"Ma!" Remi replied turning her head to look at her mother. The tip of her nose was pink now, because of the sneeze.

Like everything that had been in Remi's hand lately, the petals were taken to her mouth and Riza delicately yet firmly made her spit it out, cleaning her hand expertly.

Remi was getting so big! Madam Celine and Amelia already had said that she was a big baby when she'd been born, but now that she was almost one, with all that farm, small town diet, she was close to ten kilos and so active, so smart.

"Ca!" Remi exclaimed when they passed by the fence that held the cows and sheep.

"Cows!" Riza said pointing. "Remember their names? Mimosa, Daisy and Mancha. Say hi, cows!"

"Ca-ca!" she replied waving at the cows and Riza dropped her head to give her daughter a ridiculous amount of kisses, making the little girl laugh delighted. Behind them, she heard barking and when she turned around, Riza saw Black Hayate coming in her direction. "HATA!"

"It's Hayate, yes!" Riza said.

He reached them, rolled on the grass, jumped and barked around them, being silly to the point that he made Remi guffaw. Looking beyond him, though, Riza saw Roy and Mel by the car waiting for her. It was past the time they should leave, and she was pretty sure Roy had let Hayate out as a reminder.

Well, at some point the curative had to be removed after all.

She started in their direction feeling somehow as if she was starting to have a panic attack, but Riza tried to keep it together. She could do it. She could do it. It was for a good cause and soon they would be together again, soon they would be together definitely.

Riza kept repeating that mantra in her mind as she went to her destiny. Not even once she considered or thought that other options existed, it was always that same resolve: follow Roy whenever he goes, protect him and help him reach his goal, so they could start to make a better place out of their country, piece by piece.

It had been working so far. Ishval was rebuilt, there was a strong dialogue with Xing and soon the military government would be changed to a parliamentary one. They had allies and friends and people they trust all around Amestris, and a real chance of making this happen.

"Baba!" Remi exclaimed when they were getting closer to Roy, throwing her arms in his direction and he opened a beautiful smile rushing to catch her.

"Baba, eh?" he said tickling her belly and making her laugh delightedly, kicking with excitement. "Yas, Baba! It tickles!" Remi just laughed more.

She loved Roy's voice; when he'd come in the weekends and she'd wake up for her early morning snack he'd go ' _Hello, Remi-love!_ ' and she'd just… stop fussing and light up at him like, Baba is here. And then she'd  _smile_. Riza's heart melted every time.

Remi's laugh died down as she nuzzled against her daddy getting comfortable in his arms and he kissed her forehead before Mel took her from him, holding her like Riza did not so long ago.

"Say bye-bye, Daddy," Amelia instructed and Remi waved her hand.

"Bey-ba-ba," she said. She was used to that routine by now, seven months and counting. Daddy would come and stay for a time period, read stories and sing songs, and then it was ' _Bye-bye Daddy_ ' time until he'd be back again with ' _Hello, Remi-love!_ '.

"Say bye-bye, Mommy," Mel instructed again and Remi waved, but then she looked up at her aunt confused. Amelia took her hand and waved again. "Bye-bye, Mommy, come back soon."

Remi looked at Riza getting more confused, or maybe upset, she couldn't tell through her tears.

"Mama," Remi said making Riza sob. Her baby girl wasn't used to say goodbye to her mother, even less than Riza could separate from her. She couldn't do it.

"Bye, Mommy," Amelia insisted, something in her voice said that it wasn't any easier for her. Riza wondered if she was reconsidering the deal, if she was beginning to wonder that perhaps it was too much, to take care of a baby. "Bye, Daddy, see you soon."

"Mama," Remi started to fuss, struggling against Mel's hold. Riza stepped in her direction.

"Remi," she cried, but Roy held her back.

"I'm sorry," he whispered just for her. Riza knew this would happen, she knew it. Yet, it was so hard to stop.

"No," she said trying to break his hold. Around them, Hayate paced just as stressed out. "No. Remi."

Amelia stepped back on the porch.

"Mama!"

"I'm sorry. Riza, I'm so sorry," Roy said over and over as he dragged her to the car, Remi's cries filling the calm farm air.

Riza protested, but let him guide her. By the time she was inside the vehicle and he ushered Hayate to the back seat again, Remi was in full wailing mode with Mel struggling to hold her, but staying strong. Her last name could be Plak, but Amelia was raised as a Mustang and that was evident.

As the car sped out of the farm, Remi's cries were no longer in earshot, but Riza still sobbed. They should've left Hayate with them. They should've brought Rems home with them. They should kick away everything and get married, set with a quiet life in a farm with no city.

They should, they should, but they couldn't. Not yet.

The tears were dry on Riza's cheeks when they parked in front of her building five hours later. The old home with no baby crying and not a single pillow smelling of Roy, not a single blanket with Remi's warmth.

It was spring in Central, but chilly in Riza's room. She set the alarm for a new day and laid down for a restless night. They say mothers can never sleep soundlessly again. They seemed to be right.

[...]

The walk back in the headquarters was full of familiar faces with warm greetings. There were ' _Welcome back, Lieutenant Colonel_ 's and ' _Glad to see you, Hawkeye_ 's as she passed through the corridors to the heart of the compound, where the General's office was.

As a matter of fact, she missed this, the steady pace of routine that the military offered, and she missed the straight-forwardness of duties and bossing Roy into doing his paperwork. Havoc said that Sheska was doing her best, but she didn't hold the same authority that Riza had, of being able to stand in front of the General and scare him into following orders.

Her mind was so focused on the things she had to do that morning, that day, that Riza was legitimately surprised when she opened the door to-

"WELCOME BACK!" from all of her peers, some that weren't even under Mustang, like Alex Armstrong and Maria Ross.

She did the whole shock thing, jump back, hand on her gun before she processed what was going on and her face opened up in a shy smile.

"I couldn't stop them," the General said leaning against his doorframe, arms crossed and a smirk as he watched her.

"You guys…" Riza said looking at everyone. Heymans was biting on a hotdog and Hayate was attacking Kain with dog kisses. "Are trying to slack off your paperwork!"

"Hawkeye, come on!" Havoc protested, but suddenly Riza's smile widened and he breathed relieved.

"Okay, just for an hour or so," she said relaxing her shoulders and they all cheered.

There was a cake with "WELCOME BACK, HAWKEYE!" in pink and blue frosting and plenty of finger food on the table in the corner of the room. There were handshakes, bows and hugs, group photos and jokes – most of them about Sheska passing the torch of handling Mustang back to Riza.

It was sometime after Alex and his soldier left that Olivier arrived – if she was avoiding her brother, Riza couldn't tell – sword and a box in hand.

"Lieutenant Colonel Hawkeye," she greeted with a small bow that Riza mirrored, and handed the box to her. It had a blue ribbon lacing it shut. "Glad to see you."

"Fuhrer Armstrong," Riza said taking the box. "What's this?"

"A little welcome gift," she said casting a quick glance at Roy. If Riza would dare to say, she might have even seen a little smirk on Olivier's face.

"Okay…" she said suspiciously. Not that she'd think that Olivier would prank her, but there was obviously something going on, probably another of their silly disputes.

"You didn't bring flowers?" Falman observed. There was a fair amount of flowers on Riza's desk already. Olivier scoffed.

"Flowers suck ass," she replied. "This is much more fun," she said referring to the box that Riza was putting on her desk.

The box in itself gave away nothing. It was wood – plain, boring and practical – with no engravings whatsoever. She undid the lace and opened it revealing a brand new, shiny black pistol that made Riza gasp. She showed the contents of the box to Roy with bright eyes and then took the pistol out analyzing it. Olivier had even put a pack of bullets to go along with the gun and if that wasn't the best gift Riza's ever gotten, it was hard to know what would be.

" _An automatic pistol?_ " Mustang said getting closer to take a look too. "Are you trying to steal my Lieutenant from me, Armstrong?"

Riza looked at her in time to see her smirk – a real one this time. It was definitely one of their beefs. Olivier turned to Riza then.

"You're a very competent and faithful soldier, Hawkeye, and you were missed this past year," she said firmly looking into Riza's eyes. "I thought you'd like something useful, it must've been a really difficult return."

Riza's heart skipped a beat as it sunk a little with the realization of what Olivier meant by that and she nodded before bowing again.

"It was, Fuhrer Armstrong. Thank you very much, I really appreciate it."

"Don't hesitate do come to me if you need, Lieutenant," Olivier said with a short bow of her own and then raised a finger at someone behind Riza. Probably Roy. "No, not you."

Definitely Roy.

"Thank you, Fuhrer," Riza said again and she was waved off before Olivier turned around and went back to her office, her security trailing behind her. As soon as she was out of the room, Riza turned to Roy smiling and showed the gun again. "I like her."

"She's buying you," he replied crossing his arms and almost making her roll her eyes, but she caught the guys' embarrassment.

"What's wrong?" she asked immediately and Fuery scratched his neck.

"You do like flowers, right Hawkeye?" he asked blushing and she offered him a small smile.

"I don't have any pot to put them in, but they look nice!" she guaranteed and they all groaned. All but Roy, who chuckled.

"I told you," he said.

"How could we know you were serious?" Breda complained. There was a massive discussion ready to explode right in front of their mini-sandwiches, but a new arrival interrupted it.

"Uncle Roy!" a girl exclaimed bolting past Riza and jumping in Roy's arms so quickly he came  _this_  close to falling back.

"Wow, Elicia," he said with a chuckle as he hugged her. "I think you're getting a little too big for that."

"Yeah, Hughes, Mustang is getting  _old_ ," Havoc joked. "Edward's kids even call him 'grandpa'."

Roy narrowed his eyes at Jean over Elicia's head and she stepped back.

"It's that true?" she asked.

"No!" Roy answered too fast at the same time everyone else said "YES!" making her laugh.

"Hi, Riza," Gracia greeted discreetly with a quick hug. "How are you?"

"I'm… fine," Riza guaranteed with a small shrug. Elicia hugged her too.

"It's so good to see you again, Ms. Riza," she said. "I like your hair."

Riza tucked a strand behind her ear. It was as long as to her chin now and it didn't matter how many hairclips she used, it couldn't seem to stay back.

"I'm going to let it grow a little more," she said and then pushed Elicia's fringe to the side. The girl's hair was a couple inches down her shoulders, half of it clipped back.

"It looks pretty," Elicia said. She then looked from Riza to Roy expectantly, her hands clasped in front of her. Her next words were unexpected, though. "Can I see the baby?"

"Elicia!" Gracia scolded.

"What?" the girl asked, incapable of understanding what Riza's surprised expression meant, or what it was that Roy was silently saying to Jean. "I haven't seen Remi since Uncle's birthday. Where is she?"

Havoc passed silently behind everyone and closed the door, and only after that Roy spoke.

"We didn't bring her," he told Elicia. "But we have recent photos, do you want to see them?"

Frowning, Elicia turned to Riza.

"You didn't bring your baby home?" she asked and Riza shook her head.

"Amelia will be her legal guardian for a while," Riza said. Elicia's jaw dropped a little.

"I'm gonna get the photos," Roy said, but Elicia only had eyes for Riza.

"Is it dangerous for her? To be here?" she asked. Riza swallowed and then nodded. "Miss Riza… I'm sorry. It must be so hard to be away from your baby! I know I would be  _devastated_  if I'd have to stay away from my mom," she said taking Riza's hand. "You're one of the bravest women I've ever met."

Elicia bowed in respect, but Riza held her shoulders gently urging her to stand tall, and offered her a smile.

"You know, Elicia," Havoc barged in, practically pushing Riza out of the way. "It's good you came, because these two haven't even showed me one little picture yet."

Riza narrowed her eyes at him, because frankly she barely had had time to sit down, let alone slip a photo of Remi on his desk, but she didn't have time to say anything because Roy was already back pushing a full photo album into the tween's hands.

"Here. The recent ones are more to the end of the album, but I don't think you'll mind seeing some older photos, look at this one," he said opening the album and pointing at a photo of Remi and Hayate when she was only a few months old. Roy's eyes shone when he spoke of her. "Isn't she the cutest?"

"Uncle, let me see!" Elicia protested holding the album close to her and then she put it on the table and flipped to the last photos. The album was almost entirely filled already and Riza gave them space to see the pics. "Mom, look!" Elicia gasped. "She's so big!"

"Yes," Roy and Riza said at the same time with similar sighs. She didn't mind carrying Remi, but damn that kid was getting heavy.

"She's looking a lot like you, Riza," Havoc commented and she felt herself blush a little.

"Grandfather says the same, but I don't know…" she said.

"I think she looks fifty-fifty," Elicia pondered. "See, it's Uncle's hair and eyes, your eye color, and the nose and chin… it's a nice mix. Oh! It's me! She was so little! Can I have this pic?" she asked taking the photo from the album and showing to Roy.

"Yes, but only because I have another copy at home," he said and Havoc got all excited too.

"Can I have one too?" he asked looking at Roy and then Riza. "Last one I have is from Christmas."

"You should visit your goddaughter more, then," Roy said crossing his arms and this time Riza did roll her eyes.

"Here," she said, flipping the album back to the photos from the previous weekend. "Choose one."

"Yes!" he celebrated and chose a photo of Remi wearing a blue dress sitting on a picnic blanket outside the house, the cherry trees on the background.

Havoc went around the table to where Breda, Fuery, Falman and Sheska were keeping their distance and showed them the photo.

"Look at her, isn't she cute?" he said and Kain gasped.

"She is!" Sheska exclaimed getting closer to take a better look.

Riza had been avoiding looking at the guys on purpose, afraid of their reaction. They were some of the most loyal people she and Roy knew, but Remi was kept a secret from them. They wanted to tell them, but only after Riza'd be back and with a lot more building up than Elicia's abrupt slip. Now they felt kind of bad about it.

Sensitive as she was, Gracia, who was quietly talking to Roy, decided that it was better if they left.

"We better get going, Elicia still has tap class today," she said and her daughter pouted.

"Okay…" she whined and then hugged Roy again. "Thanks for the photo, Uncle."

"Any time, monkey," he said kissing the top of her head. "Oh, I almost forgot! Will you go camping this summer?"

Elicia stepped away and looked at her mother, who shook her head no.

"Don't think so."

"Well, great! You're going to Cherry Route then, Rems' birthday is in August and we're having a party."

"I'm invited?" she asked excitedly.

"You don't really think we'd leave you out, did you?" Riza asked and Elicia all but jumped up and down.

"Yes! I'll save the date!"

"Do that," Roy said smiling and they watched her leave skipping happily. Gracia still bowed apologetically at them.

"I'm sorry, I should've reminded her…"

"It's okay, Gracia, don't worry about it," Riza guaranteed.

She left, closing the door behind her again and they looked at each other before turning to their friends. The album of photos was being flipped slow and silently and out of the four of them, Heymans was the one who looked more hurt when his eyes met them.

"Family business east, huh?" he said and Riza bit the side of her cheek, fumbling with the hem of her jacket.

There was no sign of her ever being pregnant now, except for how heavy her breasts were. She knew she'd have to pump soon, and even though she'd been doing that when she was in the farm too, the idea of only being able to take Remi's milk to her on weekends saddened Riza to no end.

 _No_. She took a deep breath. She couldn't think like that, couldn't focus on the bad part. They still had a lot to do.

First things first, explain everything to the guys. And then work from there.

"Not here," Roy said firmly as if reading her mind, back to General posture as soon as the Hughes were out the door, reminding Riza of how she should behave.

It was funny how their roles reversed. Funny, but not in a good way. It was a sign that she had to get it together and soon.

"How about we take all these food for an early lunch in my place?" he said and after a moment of hesitation, the guys nodded. "You too, Sheska. You deserve to know why you've been having to do crazy things to make my schedule work these past months."

"Yes, Sir," she said bowing and she was the first to get to work, organizing the food in the boxes they came in.

"I can't believe Havoc was the only one to know out of all of us," Falman let out with a sigh and as silly as it was, it made them laugh.


	5. Sensitive spot

" _Hey, is there a place for us? Where flames flicker and wave for us,  
And we can see the future and the dreams it's made of.  
Hey, is there a place, a place for us?_"  
 _Place for us_  – Mikky Ekko

Riza turned off the engine after parking in front of the farm and sighed with the silence of the place. It didn't matter that she would come here almost every weekend, there was always this feeling of relief when she arrived at the Cherry Route. On the backseat, Black Hayate let out a little cry.

"We're home, Hayate," she said looking at him and he clawed at the door. "Now, it's really late, so you have to be quiet, understand?"

He barked quietly in understanding and waited for Riza to open the door for him. He waited for her to get her things and followed her to the side door that directed to the kitchen.

"Miss Riza," Noella greeted.

"Noella, what are you doing up?" she asked going to the fridge to put the milk bottles in there just to find the fridge filled with party things and a big white and pink cake. "Oh!"

"Here, I'll find a place to put them," the girl offered taking the bottles from Riza's hands. "I was finishing some touches for the party tomorrow, but I'm going to bed in a few."

"It's almost 2 a.m.," Riza said looking at the clock to check. Hayate found a place by the oven where it was nice and warm.

"I know, but I just wanted to have some things done before the morning. It's fine, really," she assured when Riza opened her mouth to protest. The kitchen was fairly clean and Noella was putting away the dishes and it seemed it was the last thing to do. "Remi is such a sweetie, we all want her to have the most magical birthday."

Faced with the girl's sincerity, Riza smiled.

"Thank you," she said.

"You should get some sleep, Ms. Riza, tomorrow is a big day."

"I will," she replied. "And you should too."

Following Noella's advice, Riza went upstairs. The whole house was baby proofed now, with gates on stairs and soft corners. Now that Roy was home for his work break, they were back to the second floor, but when it was just Amelia with Remi, it was decided that they would only use the ground floor, what with Remi crawling all around.

She silently entered in the room closing the door behind her and taking off her clothes to go to bed as quietly as possible as to not wake Remi up. Riza tiptoed to the bed, where Roy was fast asleep, and she snuggled under the sheets by his side. He stirred and pulled her closer to him, making her comfortable with the familiarity of his arms.

"Hi," he hushed when she sighed, her arms around his torso.

"Hi, Sir," Riza replied softly.

"Who the fuck is 'Sir', I'm on a break!" Roy exclaimed quietly making her chuckle.

"Old habits die hard, Sir," she said and he sighed happily.

Roy kissed Riza's forehead and then his hands slid under her shirt, undoing her bra and making her smile.

"Are you awake already?" she asked tilting her head to look at him and he smiled at her with half closed lids.

"Mostly."

"Mostly?" Riza echoed.

Roy yawned and then rolled on top of her, his mouth meeting hers hungry, yet lovingly. She kissed him back with just as much intention, the sheets tangled on their legs making them laugh as they tried and failed to remove those last pieces of clothes.

"Where's Elicia sleeping?" Riza asked.

"Downstairs," Roy answered and she nodded.

"Good. You're kind of loud, we don't want to traumatize a 12 year old."

" _I'm_  loud?" he said, feigning offense. " _I'm loud?_ "

"Yes, you are," she said and chuckled as she was attacked by a tickle bombing. "Roy! Stop it!"

"I know all your weaknesses, Hawkeye," he said leaning on top of her, his hands going up from her waist, where he was tickling, to her breasts. " _All_  of them…"

Riza hummed and reached up to kiss him, pulling him down with her and before she could warn him-

"What the fuck!" Roy exclaimed sitting up.

"Don't squeeze! You know that!" she said. "How do you keep forgetting it?"

"How the fuck you still have milk?"

"I pump," Riza said at the same time Roy waved it off saying "You pump, yeah."

"You're wasting your daughter's food," she said and he shook his head, licked the hand that was dripping with milk.

"No, I'm not," he said making her snort. "It's very nutritious."

"The best there is, mother milk," she agreed. "I'm producing less, though," Riza said with a hint of sadness. "I mean, I know she'll need it less and less, she already takes the breast only a couple of times a day, but…" she shrugged. "It's one fewer thing I get to do for her when I'm away."

"Riza…" Roy started, but he was interrupted by a small cry.

Remi had woken up and Roy rolled off of Riza, head on his pillow.

"Great timing, kiddo," he complained and Riza elbowed him before she got up and walked to the crib.

"This one is on me," she said and leaned over their protesting baby. "Hello, Remi-love, don't cry! Mommy is here. You want your early snack?"

It took a few minutes longer than usual for Remi to calm down and actually eat, hesitantly taking on the breast as it had been happening lately. That was what Riza meant. She could pump milk for a whole week when she first left the farm, but every time she came back, Remi was favoring the bottle. She was just not used to sharing that moment with her mommy anymore, it seemed.

"Riza," Roy called from the bed. He was half-sleeping again, his hands under the pillow as he laid on his side watching Riza and Remi on the rocking chair. "Maybe you could start giving her the bottle too, now. I mean, when your milk dries. She likes it, and you'll still get to do this bonding thing. I promise you nothing is lost."

"Go to sleep, Sir," Riza ordered, though she was smiling. That stupid idiot she loved so much, he really knew all her weaknesses, didn't he?

[...]

They woke up early, for the house was blasting with life. Remi's first birthday party would only take place in the afternoon, and it was a lovely cloudless Saturday of August, everything perfect for a party among cherry trees. In all honesty, Roy couldn't ask for something better than this.

(Well, maybe the chance of not hiding his relationship with Riza from the world could get close, but the feeling he was feeling at that very moment? No, it was all he needed.)

Guests started to arrive around noon, Gracia Hughes and Chris Mustang being the first. Elicia, who had come with Roy on the 1st of August and would stay all through the next week, hurried to show them everything she had helped prepare, from the homemade sausage to the serpentine hanging on the trees. She was an effective little girl with a golden heart, and even though she looked just like Gracia, sometimes Roy felt nostalgic thinking that she was carrying Maes' legacy.

Grumman arrived with Augustus right before lunch and everyone were already sitting down to eat when a few extra plates had to be put on the table because the Elric-Rockbells where suddenly there.

A little more politely – and Roy made sure to say it loud and clear for Edward to hear – Alphonse and Mei got there with Pinako  _after_  lunch. It wasn't as if Roy wanted to make Winry feel embarrassed, but he couldn't pass on a chance to annoy Ed, especially if his provocation was based on something Winry herself had pointed out when she saw the servants hurrying to find them a place to sit and a way to redistribute the food.

Mei looked a little drained from the trip; Xiao-May kept waving a fan at her friend worriedly, but then she took on a hiding place when Remi caught sign of her – the tiny panda wasn't a big fan of children, probably because Ed's kids traumatized her for life. From what Roy gathered, Mei'd been in Ishval working with Scar at a children's hospital and came straight from there, so it was no surprise that she was tired.

The party didn't began to take form until their work team arrived, Jean and Rebecca bringing a massive package that worried Roy. The box was twice Remi's size, and Falman confided in him that it was an alchemy kit. He also confided that they tried to talk Havoc out of it, but he insisted on saying that "Roy will want to start training Rems early, he won't allow her to fall behind the Elric kids", which was kind of true, but Remi was only turning one! She didn't know how to  _talk_ , let alone draw transmutation circles.

Everyone else's gifts were more modest. Grumman's was nostalgic – one of Riza's mother's dolls from when she was a little girl. It was a rag doll with colorful clothes and yellow wool hair. Vato gave her a small collection of children's books, special editions in fabric that could be washed and played with. Heymans gave her a couple of hats that were a little too big, but made Remi laugh enchanted when they fell on her eyes.

From Kain, she also got a kit, but of toys – a large car with holes in the form of objects like stars and squares to train her motricity, presents similar from what the Elrics brought and similar to the toys that filled her bedroom downstairs.

Even the workers of the farm presented Remi with something, as simple as they could be – most of them were cards from the children. The farm was big enough to have enough people working on it, and with that there was a great deal of children, the eldest only a year younger than Elicia and the younger about Lydia's age.

Last, but not least, came Olivier and Catherine Armstrong with none less than Anastasia Vostok herself. Roy had to admit that it was rather unsettling to see Olivier in common clothes – she was wearing a knee-length red dress similar to Catherine's white and blue one, and she even had a hat on. Anastasia, on the other hand, wore tailored bermuda and a nice tank top, her hair back in a braid.

Olivier passed right by him without saying hello and went straight to Riza, who was holding Remi. Catherine passed a package for her older sister and Olivier offered it to Remi.

"Hello, Little Mustang," she greeted. Remi's eyes were all on the package and her little hands tore through the paper.

On a normal day, paper tearing would have the little girl laughing her ass off, but she had opened so many presents already that it lost a little of the appeal, especially after she realized that there was always something more interesting after the paper was gone. In that case, it was a stuffed bear that made her immediately very possessive of it.

"A grizzly bear?" Roy said crossing his arms. "That's predictable."

"Just like you knocking up your best soldier, but hey! Who's counting, right?" Olivier replied in a heartbeat.

"Hey," Riza interrupted as soon as Roy opened his mouth to deliver an epic come back. "Not today."

"Yes, Ma'am," he said instead and glared at Olivier with narrowed eyes – something that was mirrored by the Fuhrer before she snapped back to the baby.

"Now, how's the party going, Rems?" she asked with a completely different posture.

"Vilie, bar!" Remi said. She wasn't much of a talker yet, but she was learning names and 'Vilie' was her name for Olivier. She then turned to Roy showing her stuffed bear. "Dada, bar!"

"Bear," Riza said fixing Remi's headband. "Ms. Olivier and Ms. Cathy gave you a bear."

"Bar," she said again nodding.

"You like it, Remi?" Catherine asked and she nodded more avidly hanging on to the stuffed animal. It was only a matter of time until she'd grow tired of it, exchanging it to whatever would catch her attention next.

"She's so cute," Anastasia commented and Roy smiled.

"I know, right?" he exclaimed. "I mean, how could she not, just look at this," he pointed at his own face and Catherine frowned at him. "Did you expect anything el-"

"She barely looks like you," the youngest Armstrong commented and behind him Roy heard someone snort. He didn't even need to turn around to know that it was Edward.

"Damn, old man…" He said standing by Roy's side and elbowed him. "That must've hurt."

"Fullmetal, go play with the other kids," Roy dismissed and Ed got immediately red-faced.

" _I'm not a kid_ ," he said through gritted teeth. " _Remember? I'm 24_."

"Are you, really? I couldn't tell, what with Elicia being almost your height," Roy said smirking and Edward straight up growled.

"Roy, stop provoking Ed," Riza said. She wasn't carrying Remi anymore and he was shocked to see that his daughter was with Olivier now. Riza hardly had let go of their baby ever since she arrived in the middle of the night. "Now that everyone is here we can actually get it started, right? Why don't you go tell Celine to start bringing the sweets?"

She was trying to get rid of him! But Roy wasn't stupid enough to not do what Riza said, so he went look for the cook who was so much more than that, as he'd been learning now that he was in the farm 24/7. As soon as the cake was on the table set on the backyard, Amelia got started on the "official photos", as she liked to call, and then there were all kinds of pics to be taken.

"Al and Ed!" Riza called putting Remi on Al's arms without warning. "Here, we need a photo of the siblings."

"ARU!" Remi exclaimed turning her head to look at him and he smiled at her as they were positioned behind the table.

"Hi, Baby Rems, there, look at Mom," he pointed at Riza.

"Smile!" Amelia exclaimed.

"WAIT!" Riza interrupted. "Ed, fix that hair," she said already walking to his side before Roy could stop her, and quickly taking some leaves from Ed's hair and fixing his bangs. "What the hell, were you really playing with the kids?"

"Three of them are mine!" Edward said with his hands up.

"Well, don't let them put leaves on your hair when you have to take family photos," Riza reasoned. She looked past him and her eyes suddenly widened. "Jude, get down! He's up the tree!" she turned to Ed. "He's up the fucking tree, Edward, I swear-"

"I'll go get him," he said.

"Where's Winry?" Alphonse asked looking around. In his arms, Remi tried to get to the table and get her hands on something. Roy guessed it was the pretty pink frosting on the cake

"This photo is taking so fucking long!" Havoc complained.

"No, you take the photo," Riza demanded pointing at Ed.

"I've got him!" Mei exclaimed going after Jude.

"Mei!" Al called worried and Remi almost fell from his arms, being grabbed by Ed just in time – which was good, because Roy was too far to get to her in time.

"I said I've got this," Mei guaranteed.

"You need to learn how to hold kids, Al," Edward scolded taking Remi expertly.

Amelia sighed. Lydia stole a sweet from the table and Pinako had to drag her from there. Jean tried to get a sweet himself, but Rebecca slapped his hand.

"OI!" Roy called out loud. "Boys! Photo."

"Right," Ed said shouldering Al to look at the camera. "Rems, look at Dad."

"I'm not!" Roy protested, which made Ed grin and Al laugh, and overall he guessed that it would be a beautiful photo. "Great, now the rest of the family. Where's Winry?"

"I'm here!" Winry shouted coming from the house a little flustered, Stephen in her arms looking fresh. "Sorry, diaper emergency."

"He's on the ground!" Mei exclaimed hurrying to their side firmly holding Jude's wrist. His hair was a bigger mess than Ed's had been.

"Oh, thank God!" Ed exclaimed ruffling his hair to get some of the leaves out.

Everyone got in position, Riza and Roy in the middle with Remi, Al and Mei by Roy's side holding Lydia, Ed, Winry and the other two boys by Riza's side.

"Jean, Becca, Gracia and Elicia, you'll be next," Riza informed.

"Say 'cheese'!" Amelia said.

"Cheese!" they all exclaimed and the photo was taken.

"It's always an adventure when the boys are around," Riza said to Roy and he had to agree.

[...]

"That's so… weird," Heymans commented, his focus on Roy, Riza and Remi. Vato and Kain shared the same confused-slash-unsettled expression. "I mean, I'm not surprised, but…"

"Still hard to wrap your mind around it?" Ed asked. For once, he didn't have to keep his eyes on any kid, seeing that Stephen had fallen asleep and the others were playing with the farm's kids. "I've had  _four years_  to get used to it and sometimes I still forget."

"You knew before everyone else?" Kain exclaimed and Ed shrugged.

"I got  _confirmation_  before everyone else, is a better way to put it," he corrected. "I… kinda caught them when we were working on that case in Milos."

" _Oh_ …" Vato said. "It must've been weird for you, since Mustang is a little of a father figure, right?"

Edward scoffed.

"No, he's not."

"Come again?" Heymans asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I could swear I saw you calling him 'dad' more than once," Vato added.

"We were undercover!" Ed exclaimed. "I  _had_  to do it, Hawkeye was on to me, and you know how terrifying she is." They shrugged and hummed in agreement and Edward scoffed again. "Father figure. If anything, he's a bother figure, keeps bothering me."

"Keep telling yourself that, kid," Roy said behind him, making Ed close his eyes in a little prayer.  _Of course_  Mustang would hear him.

"When the hell did you get here?" he said instead. "Weren't you taking a zillion photos of your kid over there?" he pointed at the table where all the kids were standing around now, Amelia with them while Mei had the camera.

"We're going to cut the cake, let's go sing happy birthday."

The men followed him closer to the table.

"You know what really bugs me?" Ed said by his side. "Olivier. She's the motherfucking Fuhrer and you found a way to have her by your side."

Roy shrugged.

"Ollie and I have common goals," he said simply, turning his head to look at Edward. "And she's my friend."

Now, that was some brand new information! Ed frowned at him.

"Since when?" he asked and Roy smirked.

"You'd be surprised," he replied and went around the table to join Riza, Amelia, Remi and the other kids behind the cake.

Yeah, Ed already was.

[...]

Most people left by the end of the day, including the Armstrong women, who'd have to be in the South for an event the following day. That way, the list of close friends was reduced even more as they all gathered at Al and Mei's place for a Sunday lunch. Al and Ed had cleaned the old Elric property a hill away from the Rockbells and built a brand new house – that according to Winry looked nothing like the house the boys had been born in – for Alphonse, while Edward stayed at Winry's place.

It was the most perfect little house down to the white fence and the couple of calico cats that already were bigger than Xiao-May. The two stories light blue home had sunflower bushes on the front and a vegetables garden in the backyard, a swing on the tree and a wooden shed with chicken for fresh eggs. Al and Mei had planted an apple tree and a peach tree and their berries hedge was growing quite nicely for only two years of life.

While Al was a medical doctor along with Edward and Amelia downtown, Mei's work was as a researcher at the brand new University of Ishval, and a volunteer at the hospital. The Elric Brothers and their families were living quite the fulfilling life.

"You know, that case wasn't all bad, really," Alphonse was saying from the grill flipping burgers. "Did we almost get hit by a truck? Yes. Did we have our asses handed to us as we tried to arrest the gang? We did. But I don't think Ed and I would actually get through uni if we hadn't had a taste of it then."

Because everyone knew that the Elric Brothers didn't need school, they were certified geniuses and there was nothing that they couldn't learn from books or experience, but the almost two months that they spent as students at the University of Milos summer class fascinated them more than they would admit.

Both brothers started studying at East City College after that case, finishing their medicine courses in half of the time, mostly because their experiences as alkahestrians in different parts of the world counted for the diploma, but also because they aced practically every single subject with little to no effort. When they opened the office with Mel, Ed still had a few credits left to graduate, but now they celebrated the new sign that would be hung in front of their place.

**Plak & Elric**

**Alphonse Elric** , M.D., State Alchemist, Alkahestrian  
 **Amelia Plak** , M.D., Alchemist, Alkahestrian  
 **Edward Elric** , M.D., Alkahestrian

"Very good, Ed!" people congratulated with proud claps and pats on his back, even though he'd graduated in late May and most of them had been to the graduation party. "That looks so nice."

"That's not the only news for today, though," Mei said with rosy cheeks holding a small retangular box. Al joined her leaving the meat on the grill to cook. "We didn't want to say anything yesterday because it was Rems' day, but today…"

To Riza's surprise, Mei handed the box to her and Roy, and she took it with a confused expression. Looking around, she saw that with the exception of Edward, everyone looked just as confused as them. When she opened the box, she found two mugs with similar sayings -  _#1 GRANDMA_  and  _#1 GRANDPA_.

"HEY!" Roy exclaimed and he exchanged a look with Riza before she looked up at Al's smiling face under Ed's laugh.

"It was his idea," Mei accused pointing at her brother-in-law.

"Of course it was," Riza said getting up, her mug in hand, and approaching the couple. When she was right in front of them, she smiled. "Congratulations, dear," she said embracing them both and Mei sighed relieved. By the table, Roy and Ed bickered.

"Wait, Mei is expecting?" Havoc asked making everyone laugh.

"Is that why they call him Seed Alchemist?" Breda joked passing behind them to check on the grill, which meant that he'd take over. He usually was the fry cook in most of their cookouts anyway. They all laughed even more at his comment.

"I'm very early on," Mei informed.

"You don't actually have to use the mug, Roy," Al said. Roy interrupted his discussion with Ed to glare at Al.

"What are you talking about, I'll use it every day!" he said getting up dramatically. Riza sighed, looking at Mei whose eyes were shining, just like Xiao-May's on her shoulder. "And it's 'Dad' for you, young man!"

"HEY!" it was Ed's time to protest. Riza put a hand on his shoulder sympathetically and he looked up at her.

"Don't worry, Edward," she said. "Roy likes to play favorites, but I love my boys equally."

She kissed his temple and he smirked at Roy. By any means Riza was old enough to have two grown boys with their own families, but the short time that Roy was their legal guardian was enough to create this bond between them. She really didn't mind the jokes and she knew that Roy didn't either. He loved the Elrics very dearly, and had always been very proud of them.

He had been such an influence in the boys' lives that it was actually easy to pass them as their sons when in undercover missions – which had been quite a lot during her grandfather's last years in power.

"I'm anxious," Mei confided to Riza, who rubbed her arm sweetly.

"Don't be, you'll do amazing," she said and then leaned closer so no one but Mei would hear her. "You got the sweet brother after all."

Mei laughed and then nodded.

"Yeah, I got lucky," she said. Riza held her mug to her chest and smiled at her.

"Loved the reveal. You can call on me for anything, okay?"

"Of course, thank you."

"-more practice, because he almost dropped Remi yesterday, and I know for a fact that he dropped Stephen too a few times," Ed was saying.

"WHAT?" Winry and Roy said at the same time.

"You dropped your sister?" Roy asked indignant and Al stuttered trying to explain himself.

"I d-didn't! She was kicking and trying to escape, but I didn't drop her-"

"Because  _I_  caught her in time," Ed interrupted.

"You know what," Roy said sitting down again. "I take it back. Fullmetal, you're my favorite."

Al's jaw dropped, Ed smirked.

"I know."

"Stop bragging."

"Yes, Sir."

Riza turned to Mei and mouthed a 'good luck'. Sure, the boys and their families were rising, but they still had a lot of growing to do. Hell, even Roy did.

[...]

"Say, bye-bye Elicia!" Roy instructed.

It was the Friday after Remi's birthday, the second day of Resembool's summer festival, and Roy had just put Elicia Hughes on the train back to Central after 10 days of break; in his arms, Remi waved.

"Ba-bye, Licia!" she said, making Elicia laugh and wave back from the window.

"Bye, Little Rems! Bye Uncle Roy!"

She was growing so fast, Maes' little girl. The over-enthusiastic child was becoming a fierce tween, and Roy wasn't so sure he should have overlooked that spin-the-bottle game he saw her playing with the farm's kids like Riza told him to. It didn't feel like something Maes would have approved.

The train left the station, and after it was out of sight Roy put Remi in her stroller and pushed her to Plak & Elric. He had promised treats from the festival to Mel, and there was a lot of food stocked in that stroller to his sister.

There was a small kitchen in the back of the office, so Roy left the food there and then knocked on Mel's door that was ajar even if she had a patient with her.

"I hope you like corn rolls," he said. "Sorry to interrupt."

Amelia, who was checking an old lady's throat, looked up at him and smiled.

"You know I love them," she said and threw away the wooden stick she was using to hold down the lady's tongue at the same time she clicked the small flashlight off. "Did you remember to ask for extra sauce?"

"When would I ever forget  _that_?" Roy asked offended.

"Now, who's that handsome man you have there, Amelia darling?" the lady asked checking Roy up and down and Mel tried to keep a straight face.

"That's my brother Roy, Mrs. Frasier," she said. "He's Remi's dad."

Mrs. Frasier had her whole attention on him when faced with that information.

"Is that so? That lovely baby girl!" she exclaimed. Roy knew for a fact that sometimes Mel would bring Remi with her to work, seeing that she would have company with Edward's kids, it was no surprise that some of her patients would know the girl. "I have a serious question for you, Mr. Roy! How could you have the strength to leave sweet little Remi behind with your sister?"

Roy's eyebrows went up. He had grown up in a city not so much bigger than Resembool, but sometimes he still forgot how judgy small town people could be. He straightened up, fixing his shirt.

"I'll let you know it's not easy, Mrs. Frasier-"

"EDO!" Remi exclaimed from her stroller interrupting Roy and he shook his head.

He tried to spill out a justification over Edward's cooing over Rems, but ended up with a bunch of half-phrases and gibberish. Ed clasped a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, old man, you disappeared," he said, making Roy sigh.

"He used to be the Elric's guardian when Ed was in the military," Amelia explained to the lady and gestured for them to leave her door. "Now, can you look at the light, Mrs. Frasier?"

"Cut the crap, Fullmetal, I'm 37," Roy replied.

"Not for long," Ed said making Roy sigh.

"Well, if you really want to know, I was enjoying some peace and quiet," Roy said to Ed, who shrugged. It was a trick move to do holding a kid, but he had plenty of experience.

"I figured, but the kids miss having Rems around," he said. Roy raised an eyebrow.

"Me too."

"Come on, you know what I mean," Ed said sitting Remi on the reception desk. "You guys should come over tonight, I'm sure Winry would love to have you for dinner. She's going crazy with those pies and could use a distraction."

"Sure," Roy said nodding. "Don't let her put that in her mouth!" he exclaimed taking Ed's stethoscope from Remi's hand. She started to protest, but Edward was quick to give her a candy bar to distract her.

"Did I hear something about Winry's pies?" Alphonse said coming from the kitchen.

"Please, tell me you're not eating the corn rolls," Roy pleaded. Al looked down at his plate.

"I don't like corn," he said. "This is… I don't know what this is, but it has chicken and onions and it's kind of sweet, but it's not? And it just tastes so good!"

"Oh, I had some! It's like some sort of barbecue?" Roy said.

"I can definitely taste the smoky," Al commented nodding, his mouth full. "Did you bring this? Dad of the year!"

Roy raised an eyebrow at Ed.

"See? That's how it's done."

"I just invited you for dinner at my place!"

"How come you don't come to  _my_  house for dinner?" Al wondered taking a seat by the desk and offering a piece of chicken to Remi, who accepted with chubby fingers, candy bar promptly forgotten.

"We were there last weekend, Al," Ed said. "Besides, I don't think anyone should be going  _anywhere near_  your kitchen." He added a shudder at the end that made Roy glare at the younger Elric with both eyebrows raised.

"Is that so, Alphonse?" he asked and watched the young man go fifty shades of red.

"Well, if that's so, I don't think we should go in  _any_  of Ed and Win's rooms!"

"You raise a good point," Roy nodded seriously and Ed rolled his eyes.

"Boys!" Amelia called from her office. Her door had remained open and they all looked at her with apologetic smiles. "Honestly."

"Sorry, Mel," Ed apologized closing the door, and then he turned to Roy. "So, Roy, which rooms should we stay clear of in your house?"

"More," Remi requested already taking the food from Al's plate, and then she poked her father, showing him the piece of chicken in her hand. "Roy!"

"No, no, no, you're not calling me Roy!" he turned to Ed pointing a finger at him accusingly. "No teaching my daughter to call me 'Roy'!"

Ed put his hands up.

" _Fine, Dad_ ," he said in the defensive. "Gee."

"Who's that, Rems?" Al asked pointing at Roy, just for a test. Remi looked at him confused and then up at Roy.

"Dada," she said and Roy sighed relieved.

"That's right, Remi-love, I'm Daddy." He humph-ed and she smiled offering him the piece of chicken she had stolen from Al again and nodded when he accepted it. She did the same thing – taking a bite of the food without asking – and offered it to Ed before she got a chunk for herself.

"Damn, Rems!" Al exclaimed. "I guess I'll have to go to the fair to buy more of this thing, she's eating everything."

"She's not the one eating everything," Ed said pointing at the almost empty plate and then at Al's sauced fingers. "Careful there, Al, or you're gonna have 'dad-fat' before your baby is even born."

Al, who was about to lick his fingers, looked at his brother and at Roy and slowly pushed the plate away, making the men laugh.

"I'm just so anxious!" Al confessed clearly stressed out and Roy exchanged a look with Ed.

"Alphonse…" Roy said resting a hand on his shoulder. Al looked up at him. "Look, I'm not gonna say that you shouldn't be anxious, because it's bullshit. Of course you'll feel nervous and unsure, your whole life is changing. You think I don't get nervous still?"

"You do?" he asked with amazement and Roy nodded sternly.

"Hell yes, I do," he guaranteed. "It's a hell of a responsibility! And there's nothing you can do about getting nervous, but think about, it Al… Mei is very, very early on, there's still so much to happen! You can't let the fright take over right at the beginning; what you  _can_  do is find a way around it, turn it in your favor. Discover a way to use these feelings you're feeling to become a better person and father for you child, the best you could be."

Still looking up at him, Al smiled gratefully.

"I already told him that," Ed said crossing his arms and Roy turned to him.

"Of course you did, but it didn't work because you're his  _brother_."

"Aru, more chica," Remi said. She was holding the plastic plate with one hand, the other hand spreading what was left of the sauce on the bottom, her fingers were painted in red.

"Young lady, you already ate too much," Roy scolded pointing a finger at her and she looked at him and then at Al.

"Aru?"

Al smiled.

"Here," he said taking the plate from her hand. "Let's go wash our hands, huh? And then you'll go with Dad and Ed to the Rockbells' to have some chicken pie."

"Teph!" Remi exclaimed as Al took her in his arms and carried her to the sink they had in the waiting room for hygiene.

"Yeah, Stephen is there," he told her. "Your friend Steph, as well as Lydia and Jude. You like them?"

Remi nodded and held her hands out for Al to soap them. She'd been learning how to hold a spoon, hold a toothbrush and wash her hands, and she was quite disciplined for a one year old; Roy supposed it was the Riza in her. Or maybe the fact that she was a military baby. Perhaps a little bit of both.

With no adult talking, the room filled with a small child voice echoing a well-known song and Al frowned as he rinsed Remi's hands.

"Are you singing?" he asked and looked at Roy. "She's singing?" Roy nodded. "How does she know so many words and still doesn't talk much."

"She's really young," Ed said. "Stephen is beginning to talk more now, and he's good five months older than Rems."

"Besides, what's the fun in  _talking_?" Roy added. "Songs are a lot more interesting. It helps them with vocabulary and rhythm, as well as memorization, not to mention the visual part, because most of these songs have gestures. Babies love songs, Riza and I sing with her all the time and I know Mel does the same. You should start learning all the songs, Son."

"How do you know so much about that stuff?" Edward asked suspiciously and Roy sighed.

"Maes. When Elicia was born, I got almost daily reports on How to Train Your Baby from him. He liked to say that as her godfather, I should know everything in case of emergency."

"… _kam die Sonne und vertrieb den Regen, und die klitzekleine Spinne kroch wieder in die Rinne_ ," sang Remi in a small voice messing up some of the words, and despite themselves, the three men swooned.

"She really likes that song," Roy said taking Remi from Al. He sang with her then, gestures and all. " _Die klitzekleine Spinne kroch in die Regenrinne, der Regen kam und spülte die Spinne aus der Rinne…_ "

[...]

"It's quite a beautiful day for an energy crisis," Sheska commented getting out of the car and closing the door. She turned around and leaned on the window, looking at Kain and smiling. "I can't say I'm sad about having a day off."

There was a nice breeze coming through the open windows of the car and Kain didn't remember to bring a hat, but he decided to go out anyway and join Sheska.

"I'm not sad about it either, but I think Riza was the happiest today," he said joining her under a tree across the street. He had parked near south the exit of the train station on purpose, that place was perfect to see everyone who was arriving. Sheska chuckled.

"You know, I think you're right," she said. "She seemed eager to get on the first train East as soon as the day was called off."

"Thank you for accompanying me last minute," Kain said gently, looking at her. "I'm sure you'd rather be relaxing at home."

"Nah, it's nothing," Sheska replied. "Really, I like your company, and Elicia Hughes is a sweetheart, I don't mind spending time with her."

"You got the job at the military through her father, didn't you?" he asked and she nodded.

"With some help of the Elric Brothers, but yes. Brigadier General Hughes was the one who found a good use to my silly talents."

"You don't have silly talents!" Kain said a little too fast, surprising Sheska and himself. "You have one of the most incredible minds since Vato Falman and that man is an encyclopedia."

A faint blush colored Sheska's cheeks, causing Kain to blush too. Lately, he'd been running his mouth around her quite unceremoniously, and that wasn't good – that wasn't good at all. (If there was one person to blame, he'd like to blame Havoc and his big mouth planting ideas in his head. Sheska was one of his best friends, and he wouldn't ruin it.)

"Thank you, Kain," she said, tucking her hair behind her ears, the sun reflected on her glasses as she lowered her head to do so. "It is true what they say about you, you know?"

"About me? People talk about me?" he exclaimed suddenly afraid. What could anyone say about him? Should he be worried?

"Yes," she said nodding and smiling. "They say you're the heart of the group, and I agree."

" _Oh_ ," Kain said, jaw dropping. That was actually… nice. Of course the guys were more than colleagues from work, they were friends, but for some reason Kain usually fell back into thinking that they'd mock him on his back as much as they liked to crack jokes about him right to his face.

"You're the only one who underestimates yourself, Kain," Sheska said sweetly and he looked up at her at a loss of words. She simply smiled at him and his heart skipped a beat, causing him to look away trying to hide the blush that most certainly covered his face.

Luckily, he was saved by Elicia, who was coming down the stairs of the train station's exit, so he got up and waved.

"Elicia!" Kain called and she searched for the source of the voice until she saw him waving with Sheska by his side and rushed in their direction dragging a heavy bag along.

"Ms. Sheska! Mr. Kain!" she exclaimed hugging Sheska and then bowing at him, her bag forgotten on the ground by her side. "I didn't expect to see you today."

"Your mother is working, she asked us to come fetch you and take you to Central."

Elicia nodded.

"I met Ms. Riza in East Station, she said that there's a blackout in Central?"

"Yes," Kain answered. "Everything is working with a tenth of capacity while the problem is not solved."

"That's so weird…" she said, a finger on her chin pensively. "What could possibly cause that?"

"Engineers say that it's that the hydroelectric is dead short," Sheska said. "I've been hearing rumors about them overworking their capacity for a couple of years, already."

"Oh, that's dangerous!" Elicia said alarmed and the adults nodded.

"Maybe now the Armstrongs will finally pass the reconstruction plans they've been trying," Sheska told them. "Major Armstrong was working head first in the project when I was transferred to Mustang's team, but Fuhrer Armstrong's been having a real hard time with the council."

That information seemed to upset Elicia, for she pouted disappointedly.

"Ms. Olivier is a very brave woman, and an excellent leader, but she still has a lot of trouble to make herself be heard, doesn't she?" she wondered and Sheska nodded.

"It's called glass ceiling, Elicia," she said leading the way to the car. Kain occupied on carrying the girl's bag and putting it in the back seat. "We thought that if there was one person capable of breaking it, it would be Fuhrer Armstrong, but even that's been a challenge. I believe that's why she's supporting General Mustang to be her successor. Even though he's young and hungry, he'll have better luck than she had, being a man and all."

"I do think Uncle is a good man suited for the job," Elicia said opening the door and accommodating behind the passenger seat. "I think he's a good leader, who knows how to choose the people around him, but it's really sucky that women won't have the same ground level as him, even if they are better than him, like Ms. Olivier is."

Kain snorted to the steering wheel and Elicia blushed all of a sudden, realizing what she just said.

"Please, don't tell him I said that!" she begged. Sheska giggled.

"Don't worry, Little Hughes," Kain said turning the engine on. "I think we all know that Olivier Mira Armstrong could kick Mustang's ass from Central to Drachma without breaking a sweat, alchemy or no alchemy."

This time, Elicia was the one who giggled.

"She could, couldn't she?"

They followed practically in silence until they reached the outskirts of Aquroya, when the busy streets turned into flat roads through the prairies of Central State, the green of summer surrounding them freshly and welcoming, like home.

Kain Fuery was originally from Clearwater, a city in the middle of the fertile plains of West, but it had been on the opposite side of the country, East City, that he saw his career take off under Mustang's leadership. However, as cliché as it might sound, Central was the place he found balance.

If ever given the choice, Kain thought to himself, he wouldn't leave that state.

By his side, Sheska eased the seat belt and turned around to look at Elicia, who was looking out the window.

"Can you tell me about Resembool and the Cherry Route?" she asked. Elicia turned to her with bright eyes. "It's such a beautiful summer, and I can't believe you were so lucky as to actually stay there for a week or so."

"Ten days," Elicia said dreamily, she even sighed. "The farm is so incredible, Ms. Sheska! Every morning, we'd wake up really early with the cocks, and I'd meet Ms. Noella to the barn, where her father would give us the goat and cow milk for the day. Then, we'd meet halfway with Madam Celine and get started on breakfast. The farm has a really modern stove, but Madam Celine likes to use the wood stove to prepare bread and eggs and coffee. I swear everything tastes better there!"

"I bet," Kain said with unnecessary seriousness.

"Were the food for Remi's birthday really all made there?" Sheska asked. Elicia nodded avidly.

"Yes! Ms. Noella let me help with the cake because I'm my mother's certified right hand too, but I have a journal filled with delicious recipes that I'm sure Mom will love." She sighed, her heart clearly still back east. "And as for Resembool… it's a lovely little town, isn't it? Edward said that it used to be just a village when he and Al were kids, but now that it's the only route to Ishval – and with Ishval having one of the best universities of the country – the village grew enough to be called a town."

"But Hawkeye's Cherry Route still is just that, right?" Kain commented. "The Cherry Route, standing on its own."

"Yep," Elicia said. "People who live and work there love it very much. They say that the Route is a small district on its own."

"Can you imagine it?" Sheska wondered. "Being so wealthy you had your own district?"

"Ms. Riza says she's not wealthy at all, and that her grandfather is the one responsible for paying those workers at the farm," the girl said. "But Uncle always says that he'll be as rich as Ms. Riza once Ms. Olivier actually hands down the Armstrong estate to him. Like that would ever happen," she completed chuckling.

"Did you get to see some neat things in the countryside, Elicia?" Sheska asked. "The day we spent there, we barely had time to explore."

"It was a rather busy weekend," Elicia reasoned. "I think I slept the whole day on Monday after that! But yes, I saw lots of neat things there. The best, I think, was the fair that started yesterday. It had cool rides, cotton candy and so much yummy food!"

"Is that so?" Kain asked. "Did you bring any with you?"

"As a matter of fact, I did!" she exclaimed and opened her bag, looking for something. Kain laughed.

"I'm kidding, Elicia, I know you're taking them to Gracia."

"It's okay, I have more than enough for everyone," she guaranteed offering a package of colorful biscuits to Sheska.

"Thank you, sweetie!" Sheska said. "Kain and I will share this one, take the rest home."

"Oh," Elicia said blinking. She was holding another package of biscuits for Kain, but he looked at her through the rearview mirror and nodded, so she put it back in the bag.

"Look," Kain pointed ahead with the biscuit Sheska had just handed to him. "We can already see the first buildings of Central. Almost home, Little Hughes."

Elicia smiled widely. Kain supposed that it didn't matter how much she loved the country, there was no place like home.

"And I think Ms. Riza must be almost in Resembool as well, her train departed before mine," she said and looked outside the window again. "She'll be home for dinner."

[...]

The car wasn't in the garage of the clinic that afternoon, something that put Riza off for a moment, until she realized that there were other 2 cars there – Al's and Mel's – meaning that the clinic was still open, so she went in. Both doors to the offices were closed and she could hear voices, so she decided to wait in the waiting room, constantly catching her feet nervously tapping the floor as the minutes dragged by.

Finally, the door with the plaque ALPHONSE ELRIC, M.D., with SEED ALCHEMIST under it opened and Al accompanied a young couple outside, showing just a moderated surprise when he saw her.

Riza smiled and waved, waiting for him to finish talking to the couple. They were hardly older than Al himself and the woman looked a little flustered, being supported by the man.

"Thank you, Doc Al," the man said. "I'll make sure she won't overwork in the next days of fair."

"It won't do you no good, if you get knocked off a horse again, Chyler," Al said all professionally. "You need to rest and drink a lot of water."

"Yes, noted," the woman said. "Thank you, Doc."

"Don't hesitate to call me if you experience any nausea or if the headache doesn't dull."

"I won't," she guaranteed and tried to bow, but the movement made her groan.

"Okay, Chy, time to go home," the man said supporting her, his hands on her shoulders as he led her out of the clinic. "You know what Mother will say, don't you?"

Riza listened to their light banter thinking that it sounded quite familiar, like a day in the office, but her attention was quickly turned to Al, who approached her.

"Riza," he greeted with a respectful bow and she smiled.

"Hi, son," she said softly and opened her arms inviting him to a hug.

The whole parental thing worked differently for Alphonse compared to Edward. With Ed, there was this banter with Roy that hid a mutual respect between the two; his relationship with Riza was under the no-bullshit contract, a deal made without words or handshakes. For Ed, Riza was the one to go to when he needed honesty and good advice, but when it came to Al, it was different. Al had been the baby brother all this time, even if he was equally genius, and he was really little when the boys lost their mother, so his connection with Riza happened in a smoother and easier way. He'd always welcome her embrace like a cuddling kitten.

However, both boys still oscillated between formal greetings and the casual 'Mother' with Riza, while the running gag with Roy would always yield a 'Father' from them, especially after Milos.

"I didn't expect to see you so soon," Alphonse said hugging her.

"Me neither," Riza confessed. "But there was a problem at the energy company and Central is under a blackout, so I was dispensed for the day."

"That's lucky, we're going to Ed's tonight!" he said excitedly. "Winry's been baking pies for the contest tomorrow, and we're allowed to eat any pie that doesn't look perfect in her eyes. Knowing Win, I bet the house is overflowing with pies by now."

The way his eyes were shining as he talked about pies made Riza laugh, and Riza's laugh made Al blush. He awkwardly scratched the back of his neck, a gesture that made him look a lot like his older brother.

"Winry's pies are always great, no matter how they look," he said blushing more. "But I'm sure Brother will make fun of me, say I've been eating too much."

"Ed said that?" Riza asked crossing her arms and Al nodded.

"But I'm not! I'm eating like I always eat-"

"Now, that's a big fat lie," Amelia interrupted behind him and Al straight up pouted. "But don't worry, Alphonse, we already called the apothecary to make you some hunger inhibitor pills, it'll arrive by Wednesday."

Riza raised an eyebrow at him as Mel helped her patient, an old lady with striking white hair, outside and he crossed his arms. Funny how things would set those boys off and get them acting like children, but if there was something Riza was good at, it was at seeing right through them.

"Is that about the pregnancy?" she asked softly, searching his eyes, and a little surprised Al nodded. Riza smiled them. "Remind me to tell you what I did when I would get anxious about Remi, okay?"

"You got anxious?" he asked with genuine shock and Riza nodded.

"Of course!" she exclaimed. "A forbidden baby right under the court martial offices? With the main candidate for Chanceler as the father? That's the recipe for a disaster, Al."

Al shook his head.

"Putting it that way, my reasons are a tad bit stupid."

"But they make you nervous anyway, so they matter. Don't forget that. Now, you were talking about pies."

"Yes!" he exclaimed, the button already switched back to his normal lovely demeanor. "That was my last patient for the day, so I'm going to Ed and Winry's. Roy and Remi are there already, do you want to come with me?"

To be quite honest, Riza wasn't very eager to go to the Elric-Rockbells' before going home just because of Win's pies, she was looking forward going home to be with her family, but now that she knew that her family was at Ed's, she felt way more interested in Al's plans.

"Sure, of course," she said smiling and already getting her bag that was waiting for her on a chair. "You coming too, Mel?"

Amelia shook her head.

"I'm waiting for a patient, another fair incident," she said and Al's jaw dropped.

" _Another?_ " he asked. Mel nodded. "We had what, four today?"

"What kind of fair is  _that_?" Riza asked, eyebrow raised.

"Summer fest," Al answered. "It's tradition in Resembool. We didn't tell you last year because Rems was too little, but they have everything – from homemade food to eating contests, rides for the kids and for the adults, animal contests, family games,  _everything_. You have to go with Roy and Rems."

At the mention of Remi's name, Riza visibly relaxed and Al's expression softened and he offered her his arm.

"Let's go get together with your baby, Mom," he said and she nodded, taking his arm and waking with him outside, but then Al stopped in the middle of the front lawn. She looked up at him confused. It was funny how she had to look  _up_  at him when he was a kid and that didn't change with his adult version. That boy sure grew like weed. "I forgot the car keys in the office," Al said with a weak laugh and Riza nodded.

"Go on, then, kid," she said and shook her head to his back as he rushed back to the clinic.

They drove silently, the radio spilled news from the southeast area of Amestris with summer hopefulness. There hadn't been many battles against Aerugo for the past four years, since a deal began to be talked between the leaders, and the border had been quite friendly even. Of course there was still tension, but it wasn't as bad as it used to be.

The distance that would take an hour or so on foot was only a fifteen minute drive, and soon Al was leading the way to the Elric-Rockbells' home. There were voices all over the house and it smelled like yummy food all over. Usually, the Elric-Rockbells' house had this lingering smell of oil and metal, but not this time. This time, Winry had poured her everything into baking pies.

"It's a contest, so she's invested," Al confined on Riza, who nodded leaving her bag by the door to go in greet people, but before she go as far as five steps inside, she heard Roy's voice.

He was reading a story that she knew well, because it was a story she herself had brought to Lydia Elric – about a naughty little bunny that tried his luck at the farm where its father had been murdered. Riza followed his voice, passing by the kitchen, where Al greeted Mei, and going to the living room.

Sitting on the floor with Remi on his lap and the book in his hands was Roy, Ed's kids all around him on the sofa – Lydia and Steph - or on the floor – Jude – as well as Xiao-May being petted by Remi. It was quite the scene, and even though  _Roy_  was the photo-crazy, Riza wished for a camera at that moment, to eternalize it.

"… _Flopsy, Mopsy and Cotton-tail, who were good little bunnies, went down the lane to gather blackberries;_ " Roy read. " _But Peter, who was very naughty, ran straight away to Mr. McGregor's garden_ …¹"

"Xiao-May, I thought you didn't like children," Riza interrupted, a hand to her chest, and they all looked at her.

"Mama!" Remi exclaimed.

Xiao-May jumped from the baby's arm to the floor, and Riza was delighted to see that Roy looked as excited as Remi to see her. She stepped in their direction, but he gestured for her to stop.

"Wait, wait!" Roy exclaimed and handed the book to Jude while Remi struggled to get free from him. "Hold this for me a minute. You want to go to mama, Rems?"

"Mama," Remi said nodding, arms stretched towards Riza.

Roy got on one knee and put Remi on the floor, holding her until she found her balance, and then…

He let go.

Remi looked back at him. Riza starred wide-eyed. Xiao-May stood protectively by the baby's side.

"Go on," he encouraged.

And… she did. She walked. Her Remi was walking!

With unsteady steps and Xiao-May keeping close, Remi aimed for Riza and went foot after foot with determination. It wasn't a long distance at all, and she was taking it like a pro; her hair was getting quite long now, and it fell on her forehead like Roy's did. Remi wasn't a big fan of headbands or hairclips, but she'd need those soon, if they decide to keep her hair long. Riza dropped to her knees and reached out for Remi, letting the baby run to her and give her the most delicious hug she'd gotten her whole life.

"Baby Rems, you're walking!" Riza exclaimed, filling the girl with kisses and making her laugh.

"She started today," Roy told her getting up and stepping closer. "I actually just got her to quiet down, she wants to explore the whole house."

Riza got up as well, Remi in her arms tightly holding on to her mama, and Roy leaned in to a kiss.

"You're early," he commented.

"Yeah," she said and then looked down at Remi. Her baby… started to walk and she wasn't around to see it, she'd only be able to take any leaves after April. How much more would she have to lose? Riza rested her forehead on Roy's shoulder and sighed. "This is so hard…"

"Hey…" he said softly, hands on her shoulder. "Not now, okay? You're here."

She stepped back and looked at him, and then she nodded.

"We're reading the book you gave to Lyds!" Jude said from the sofa, raising the book above his head with both hands. "I read it before, but I'm reading again."

"You read it by yourself?" Riza asked and Jude nodded.

"I know all the letters now," he said.

"Me too!" Lydia barged in.

"And I know the words too, though sometimes I need help."

"I don't know all the words," Lydia said shaking her head. "But I know some!"

"And Xiao-May likes stories, it's the only time she gets close to us."

Sitting on the arm of the sofa, the little panda made sure to keep her face turned away from the older Elric-Rockbell kids. Stephen reached out to pet her, but she growled at him and he gave up.

"I don't think she likes us much," Lydia said.

"But she likes Remi, I guess," Jude pondered, the book open on his head like a hat.

"I guess it's the Xing in her," Mei said behind them and they turned around. Everyone was there – Winry, Ed, Pinako and Al -, some of them covered in flour, most of them with their clothes dirty with food stains. Xiao-May ran to her and found a place on her shoulder. "Hi, Riza."

"Hi, guys," Riza greeted. "I heard we'd have an overdose of pies tonight."

"PIES!" the kids shouted from the sofa, making practically everyone jump surprised and then laugh. Winry put her hands on her hips; she was holding a wooden spoon.

"You arrived just in time!" she said smiling.

Riza got closer to Roy and he put an arm around her waist. It was good to be with family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading! reviews are welcome :D


	6. Planned

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was really hard to write! I hope it didn't end up awful :(  
> Thanks to all the feedback you're giving me, guys, it means a lot!

" _Even if no one makes plans anymore,  
Even if the passion isn't love between the couples my age anymore.  
Lonely, we kiss; lonely I seek what brings you happiness.  
And now that night's finally hidden us, I have to take you out to dance.  
Our love announced the other season of our lives._"  
 _Inverno_  – A Banda Mais Bonita da Cidade

"Excuse me, boss," Havoc said barging into Roy's office and heading to the window, a cigarette in his mouth. He lit it up and took a shaky smoke.

"What the hell you think you're  _doing_?" Roy asked frowning at his subordinate, arms crossed. He was  _not_ in a good mood, hadn't been for a while now.

"Having a smoke," Jean answered as if they weren't in the HQ, and it annoyed Roy even more. "Look, can you cut me some slack? I'm really stressed out."

"And you think Rebecca won't find out you smoked from a mile away?"

Havoc groaned and smoked some more, his fingers trembling. Roy knew well why Jean was so nervous, but he really didn't have the will to talk some sense into the man. He had his own troubles to worry about.

"How are the babies?" he asked and the Major groaned.

"They are fine, and so is Rebecca."

"Oh, so it's just you being an ass, then, as usual," Roy provoked. "I thought you wanted kids, Jean."

" _One_  kid!" Havoc exclaimed. "I was prepared for one kid and that would be enough, not two at the same time!"

"You knew it was a possibility, aren't there twins from both your families?" Havoc nodded, avoiding eye contact. "Why are you acting so surprised? You've known you'll have twins for ages already, when is Becca due?"

"Six weeks."

Roy scoffed. The other day, he had gotten a call from Ed telling him that they were expecting baby #4, Fullmetal was jumping from joy. He was ten years younger than Havoc, with twice as many kids. Eight months in and Jean was being a bigger baby about that pregnancy than his own children, it was ridiculous.

"I can't be a father of two, Roy," he whined.

"Are you fucking kidding me, Havoc?" Roy snapped. "Rebecca left the military to marry  _you_ , she chose to have a family  _with you_. You finally get to have it, and now you're bitching about it to  _me_?" Jean flinched and tossed the butt of his cigarette through the open window. "Grow up. Get your shit together and go back to work."

"Yes, Sir," the Major replied with a salute and made his way back to his desk, but before he got to the door, he turned back to Roy. "Oh, Sir? When is Hawkeye coming back?"

Roy pretty much growled at Havoc then.

"Do you have a death wish?" he asked and Jean casted a quick glance at his superior's hand, just to make sure that there was nothing inflammable near him, and… there was.

Faster than one would think was possible, Havoc was out of there and buried in a pile of paperwork, leaving Roy to mope alone, as he should've been kept all along. He didn't want to hear complaints about perfectly perfect families, didn't want to be bothered, and more important, didn't want to be  _asked about Riza_. Every time Roy thought about those things, he signed something with a little more strength, to the point where…

"Uh… Sir?" Sheska called with real dread in her voice, so much that he looked at her taken aback. She had a pile of papers in her arms. "Some of these are… holed."

She raised one of the papers, showing that it had indeed a hole in it where he had forced the ballpoint pen to cut the T, and he sighed.

"Can you get me another copy, then, Corporal?"

"Yes, Sir-"

"Mei!" they heard Fuery exclaim and they looked over at the other room. Mei Chan was indeed there, and with her Xiao-May and none less than her baby daughter.

"Hi, guys!" she greeted, her panda mirroring her gestures with precision.

Roy bolted to his feet immediately and crossed the door with renewed humor.

"Charlie!" he greeted, and the baby in Mei's arms squealed. "Where's my favorite Elric, baby girl?" she kicked and laughed, arms stretched to him, so he took her in his arms. "Hello, Mei, Xiao-May."

"Hi, Mr. Roy," Mei greeted while Xiao-May bowed expertly on her shoulder.

"Hello, you!" he exclaimed, back to Charlie again, and he threw her in the air once. She was only six months old, but even so Roy considered her a small baby.

"Careful, she just ate," Mei warned, and he held the baby more carefully, then, her tiny hand clinging to his blue uniform.

Charlotte Elric-Chan looked nothing like the Elrics Roy already knew. While her cousins sported different shades of blonde hair and a fan of golden to blue eyes, her hair wasn't quite black like Mei's, but a dark brown completely different from Alphonse's too; her round eyes, even though clear and with a hint of gold didn't have a specific color either, pending more to a light brown than to her parents' golden and black. Pinako Rockbell said she looked like Trisha Elric, and Roy had to take her word for it.

She was delicate and sweet. His Remi could cry like a thunder, but Charlie was  _quiet_. Mrs. Rockbell said that that wasn't from Trisha at all, for she had been quite a naughty little girl, but from Alphonse himself. She said that no one had the faintest clue of where Al's calm demeanor came from, that his father had been quite the troublemaker in his youth.

Now, if Roy had listened to the stories closely – and he was quite sure he had -, Hoheinheim could be short tempered like Ed, and cause a little ruckus, like Jude and Lydia, but he was also very disciplined, and that was something that overflowed in Alphonse. Hell, if Roy was to come closer to home, all his life he knew the Riza who was a hard worker and firm, determined, and that was evident in his Remi too.

His Remi, who was with her mother in Rheos Fall for who knew how long. His Remi who just turned 2 three months ago with a considerably smaller party compared to her first birthday, a cake just for family at her great-grandfather's place, not even Jean and Rebecca went – mostly because Becca was on bed rest, but still.

Roy missed his daughter.

"Ew!" Breda exclaimed when Charlie vomited on Roy's spotless uniform, a trail of sour white milk on his shoulder. He wasn't even fazed about it, babies throwing up on him had been a thing since his elder sister had adopted a little boy back when he still was a teen, so he handled it like the pro that he was.

"Don't worry, Charlie, you're still my favorite," Roy said, passing her to his other arm and removing the jacket while Mei helped clean the baby's face with a cloth diaper. He maneuvered her easily, and then put the jacket on Havoc's desk. "Here, go practice."

" _Sir?_ " Jean exclaimed closing his nose with two fingers dramatically.

"You need the practice," Roy said simply, stepping away from the Major's table. "It's an order."

Independent from it being an order or not, Havoc got the jacket complaining and headed to the toilet whining all the way, a disgusted expression on his face the whole time. He seriously needed a reality check, because he'd be handling with diapers and vomit for a  _long time_  when his twins would finally be born.

"…I have an interview with the Fuhrer," Mei was explaining to the others. Roy knew what she was on about, even though her tone around him was careful. She already had that discussion with him a few times, and none of them ended very well. "Alphonse is supposed to be here any moment."

She was looking at the clock, though, so Roy made her an offer.

"Leave Charlie with me."

Mei looked up at him surprised.

"Aren't you busy?" she asked and he shrugged.

"Come on, I do that all the time when Ed and Winry come with their kids, it's totally fine!" he guaranteed. "I can do my work and watch a baby at the same time, it's easy.  _You_  will need to take notes. Leave her here, I promise to only hand her to Alphonse when he arrives."

"I don't know…" Mei said still unsure. "I don't want to bo-"

"Mei," Roy interrupted. "I know how to take care of babies. Just give me the schedule and I'll follow it, go do your interview, I've got this. You know I do."

Reluctantly, Mei sighed and then offered him Charlie's bag talking nonstop until she had everything covered.

"Fine. Here's everything she needs. There're diapers, a pacifier, a change of clothes, a bottle of juice, another of milk, cookies. She just ate, but she might get thirsty or you might want to distract her. Uh… a couple of toys, a teething ring, she's been biting everything." It was true, she had been chewing on Roy's uniform collar before and was now attacking her own hand. "Cloth diaper, she's been drooling a lot because of the teeth… I think that's it. You want me to leave Xiao-May too?"

"Not necessary," he said. "Do you want to stay with us, Xiao-May?"

The panda looked from him to Charlie and then to Mei, thinking carefully, and she chose May. After it was settled, she they headed to the central room of HQ, where Mei would proceed with her interview, and Roy went back to his office, Charlie in his arms.

Less than two years ago, Remi was this small. Now she talked in full sentences in three different languages, and despite his best interest, was already learning how to draw circles. She was so smart, his daughter, and she adored him just as much as he adored her – which reminded him that he still had to make a call to piss Olivier off soon, before he'd lose his timing.

[...]

It took Al a little over an hour to finally arrive, and he looked drained from the day in the hospital. Specialized in labor and children, he had been the one who figured out that Rebecca was pregnant with not only with one baby, but two. Roy didn't really know what Al had been doing after the appointment with the Havocs, but when he arrived at the General's office, he found the man sitting on the floor with a pile of papers by his side, a barrier made with alchemy delimitating the space where Charlie rolled around, judging by the color of her clothes.

"Dad?" he called stepping over the barrier to join them. Roy didn't even look up from the paper, but noticed through his peripheral vision that Al took Charlie in his arms before going to his side. She'd been laying on her back, feet in the air, teething ring in her mouth as she bit in concentration.

"Hello, son, sit down," Roy replied signing the paper with significantly less strength now that he'd spent some relaxing time with Charlotte. Al sat in front of him, leaving the baby on his legs. "Tired?"

"Yes," Alphonse said with a sigh, his hand on his daughter's belly. "They took so much of my time, I don't think I can go back home today."

"From how much time that interview of Mei's is taking, I think she'll agree," Roy said. "You guys have a place to stay?"

"We'll probably rent a hotel room," he said and Roy shook his head.

"I have the key to Riza's place, you can stay there."

Roy got himself another sheet of paper and read through it, Al silently played with his baby, trying not to let out the questions Roy knew he was dying to ask. And he tried very hard, it was true, but it lasted as far as five minutes.

"Spill it, kid."

"Okay, when are you two going to get back together?" Al asked almost sighing relieved to let it out, and Roy looked up at him.

He set his paperwork aside, the pen on top of it all, and pondered on whether or not he should be honest. The way things had been going on that day, his honesty had been rather brutal, and he wasn't willing to be rude with Alphonse out of all people.

"I know what happened," Al said, choosing for him. "Mel told me it was a massive fight, and Mom… didn't want to talk about you. Not until you 'get some sense' at least, her words."

Roy sighed more deeply this time, pained to have to have this conversation. If it was Ed, he'd probably understand better, he'd been the one in with the plan after all, but Al was too… nice. Not that he hadn't been through some rough stuff, he probably had suffered more collateral than any of them, sacrifices, together, but somehow he still managed to have a good natured heart. The fight between Riza and Roy needed a harder opinion.

"I also know about the plans," Al said, this time his voice was smaller. He was even a little curved, leaning forward to keep their conversation between them. "Ed told me about what Mom told him all those years ago. He has a lot to say about that fight of you two, if you're wondering, and the quick version is that he's on Mom's side. And so am I."

"Alphonse," Roy said rubbing a hand on his face. "It's-"

"Complicated?" Al finished for him and offered him a sad smile. "I'm aware. But it also has a very simple solution."

No, it didn't. There was nothing  _simple_  about what they were going through at the moment, and Alphonse couldn't even be near to understand the battle that was happening daily inside of Roy. It was beyond anything he could fathom, really, a possibility that shouldn't be offered to any of them.

They didn't deserve it.  _He_  didn't deserve it.

"I don't want to beg, Al," Roy confessed looking at Alphonse heartbroken. "I don't want to be like, look, please let me live, I have a daughter, I have family, yada yada, because I didn't give that option to them."

"You were doing your job," Al argued.

"But I shouldn't have."

"You couldn't disobey without being court martialed."

" _How does it matter?_ " Roy asked sharply. "Alex  _left_. He saw it was too much and he left. I saw it was too much and I kept going."

Al took a moment to answer him then, fooling Roy into thinking that he had used a good enough argument to make him stop trying.

He'd had that conversation plenty of times already – with Riza, with Mei, with Grumman and Olivier. He could never shake the feeling that the moment he agreed to that, everything that made him  _him_  would crumble. Roy Mustang was in a dark, narrow corridor, the way it felt when he lost his sight, the way his nightmares still crept on to him.

"It matters because it brought you here," Alphonse said, making Roy's heart sink a little deeper. "Don't you even dare tell me that I don't know what war was like, we fought the Homunculi war together, side by side with the Ishvalans. You've helped rebuild their hometown, and you met the way of their people. They are forgiving people, Roy, and I think we have a lot to learn from them, you specially. No, listen to me."

Roy meant to say something, taken aback by the use of his first name by the young man. Al rarely called him by his name ever since they had to pose as a family in Milos; at the time, Roy thought that the Elric Brothers were only in for a joke – the soldiers in the East always had something to say about Roy's "litter of strays" – but then they had been in that freaky accident and everything changed and he realized… that maybe he really had gotten that parentage status for the boys. Of course he and Riza had to share it with the Curtis, but it felt nice anyway.

"If you hadn't kept going, you wouldn't be here today, feeding brilliant ideas to our country's leaders; you wouldn't have such solid goals, nor would you be close to achieving them. All those plans you made with Mom, you knew from the start that they'd be your death, but you did it anyway. That's how committed you are to righting your wrongs, but what you fail to see is that you already did so much more!"

"Al, I can't ask for forgiveness from them," Roy argued helplessly. "You think I don't want to live? That I don't want to see Remi grow and become her own person? See you and your brother accomplish amazing things? Of course I do! But what I did in the past-"

"Is in the past, don't you get it?" Al still pressed. "I can't believe you're one of the smartest people I know and you still can be so dumb. Seriously, Dad. You talk so much about being rightfully judged by the Ishvalans, but when they ask for your side of the facts, you don't give them! That's what Mei is doing, you know? Gathering the facts on the other side for them. Can't you remember that you were means to an end? Your burden should not be that heavy."

Damn those smart kids, why did they have to be so clever? Because for once, someone was making sense in that story of "Rise and Fall of the Heroes of Ishval". Before Roy could give it too much thought, Sheska knocked on the door again.

"Sir? Colonel Hawkeye is on the private line for you."

Al's eyes widened and Roy nodded, keeping his face neutral. He barely moved, just stretched to get the phone on the table by his left to pick up the call. Only then he noticed that Charlie had fallen asleep.

"Mustang speaking," he said on the phone ignoring Al's frown.

" _Roy, talk to Remi,_ " Riza said as straightforward as she could be.

"Sure," he said, even though he was sure she wasn't on the line anymore.

" _Dada?_ " Remi called uncertain. Roy's heart melted and broke at the same time.

"Hi, baby girl," he said almost lightheaded with how much he missed her. "How are you?"

" _Okay_ ," she said.

"Do you like Pops' big house?"

" _Yeah…_ " she mumbled. " _Dada, you come home? Mama say don't know._ "

Now his heart was definitely broken, and he covered his face with his free hand.

"I don't know either, sweetie, Daddy has a lot of work to do."

Remi went quiet and Roy frowned. She was used to seeing him at least every couple of weeks, but coming this next Friday it'd be seven weeks since he visited, last time being his birthday in October. He still called every day, but it wasn't nearly the same.

"Remi?" he called. "What's wrong?"

Faintly, he heard Riza say something to her, but he couldn't quite make out the words, and then he heard a quiet sob. Remi was crying.

" _I miss you, Dada,_ " she requested, her voice tiny. " _Work is no good, come home._ "

Work was the reason he hadn't been going home to his baby girl, all right, but not in the way everyone thought. The real reason was in a folder in his first drawer, a simple sheet of paper that existed since Riza took that year leave and he started rethinking his plans.

As a matter of fact, Al was right about something. A lot had changed since they started plotting his way to the top, and maybe not everything should be so strict after all. Remi, for once, wasn't part of the plan and yet here they were.

"Remi-love, I miss you too, so very much! And I'll go home soon, promise. But in the meantime, try and have some fun at Pops', what about that? Did he give you all the toys that used to be your Mama's already?"

" _Yeah,_ " she said sniffing. " _They different_."

"They are, aren't day? I haven't seen them, but when I go visit you'll have to show them to me, how about that?"

" _You come visit?_ " she asked full of hope.

"Let me talk to your mother."

" _Kay. Bye, Dada_."

"Love you, sweetie!"

" _I'm listening_ ," Riza said evenly. Roy swallowed.

"We need to talk."

" _You think?_ "

"Can you come to Central?"

" _No._ "

"Riza, come on-"

" _If you want to pull that bullshit on me, you better_ at least _come see Remi. Maybe that will give you a little perspective_."

"Riza-" goddammit, he had perspective! That was why the transfer papers existed in the first place.

" _You know my terms. I'll be in Rheos. Bye_."

Roy sighed, the call already cut, and he looked at Al, who hadn't moved from his place either, but had the decency to pretend he wasn't listening.

"You did a fuck up, didn't you?" he asked and Roy groaned.

"Thanks for the reminder."

[...]

Olivier Mira Armstrong, in her position as Fuhrer, had the best view of Central command. She knew that, everyone knew that, but no one liked it more than her brother Alex. He'd come in every chance he got – which, to be honest, wasn't  _that_  much – and after saying his piece, he'd stand behind her desk and look out the window. He didn't want the Fuhrer title, but she was sure he wouldn't mind changing office with her. Alex was soft that way.

As a matter of fact, Olivier didn't want to be rid of her title anytime soon, and even though she wasn't as sentimental about the view as Alex, she still liked her office just fine. No, she was willing to stay as head of the military for as long as possible, even after the parliamentary government would be set. The Prime Minister, or Chanceler as some of the candidates were calling it, would rule over the country and the Fuhrer's only job would be to take care of the military – army, navy and air force, it was. The only way to take her from that chair she was comfortably sitting on would be if she was convicted at Ishval's trial, and she didn't want to think of that at the moment.

Her eyes landed on one of the photos that she'd been keeping on her desk for a week now, right next to Anastasia, Catherine and herself at that summer they met, there was a photo of her holding a black-haired smiley little girl at an obnoxious General's birthday party. If Mustang knew that she was actually displaying that photo on her work desk, she wouldn't see the end of it, but it was such a pretty pic and she honestly liked Remi.

"Who's the kid?" Alex asked reaching out and taking that exact photo from the desk.

He came to talk about the progress – slow, but steady – of the new hydroelectric his men were building, but that conversation was over for ten minutes already and he did his view sighting as they talked about other things, related to work or not. The sun was setting quite early already in orange and pink, hardly making any progress in raising the temperatures. They were definitely heading to winter.

"That's Remi," Olivier said, making a last minute risky decision. "Remi Mustang."

Alex looked at her over the frame frowning.

"Mustang?" she nodded looking into his eyes. He looked closer at the photo. "I didn't know Mustang had a daughter."

"Not many people do," she said seriously and Alex looked at her again. He was a sweet person, open and caring, but he was no fool, Olivier knew well. She didn't expect him not to connect the dots. "Do you understand what I mean?"

Somberly, he nodded and put the photo back on her desk. Someone knocked on the door and then Jasmine stepped inside.

"Excuse me, Ms. Olivier, General Mustang is here to talk to you."

"Send him in," she ordered with a hand gesture. What did Riza say about his timing again?

"Yes, Ma'am."

Just a second later, there was Mustang. Usually, he'd barge into her office with one of his annoying smiles, he'd sit down in front of her and talk non-stop about his "little Remi-love" and something the kid had learned lately, blabbing until he was sure whoever wanted to hear their conversation got bored and left, but this time his smile didn't quite reach his eyes, and he wasn't as flamboyant as usual when he saw Alex.

"How's my favorite Fuhrer, Ollie?" he said as way of hello.

"Still not wanting to be called 'Ollie' by you," Olivier replied and he sucked in a breath.

"Harsh! I thought we were friends, Ollie."

"I heard you had a death wish this month, but I didn't think it was serious," she replied coldly, a hand on the handle of her sword and he smiled.

"Good afternoon, Lieutenant Armstrong," he said, greeting Alex instead of answering her. Alex bowed and made his way to the door.

"Good afternoon, General. I was on my way out," Alex said and rested a hand on Mustang's shoulder briefly when he passed by him. "That's a cute kid you have."

Mustang's mouth opened in a surprised 'oh' and Olivier sighed. Alex mentioning Remi that casually could only mean that he heard about her from Olivier, and very soon Roy would turn to her like -

"So you've been talking about me?" he asked and got up to take a look at the pictures on her desk. The moment he spotted her photo with Remi, he gasped. "Oh, my goodness!"

Olivier snapped the frame down.

"It's a pretty pic!" she said in the defensive before even needing to and Roy sat down again, smirk officially on.

" _I can't believe it_ ," he said slowly. "You actually like my kid!"

"Is that why you're here? Because you can go back the way you came if so."

His posture changed all together to one of business. No time for bullshit today, it seemed.

"That's not why I came here, no," he said lacing his fingers together and frowning. "I came to talk about Mei's research."

Olivier's eyebrows went up.

"Oh, so you finally want to talk about it?" she asked and he nodded.

"Alphonse had some good points and… I wanted to know from you how it's going to be handled."

"You mean, more than you already know?" Olivier said with a smirk, mostly because she liked to torture him. There had got to be away to get to him, after all. "Mei said the same thing to everyone, Roy. She's studying at the University of Ishval and her research is on the Civil War and how the Ishvalans plan to judge it. She's interviewing military involved in the intervention to get our side straight and everything she collects will be used for the primary trial next year."

She could see that it bothered him, and she had a good guess which part was the one that made bigger damage. The Ishvalan court to trial everyone involved in the civil war had been his idea after all, but that primary trial was on her tab, and Mustang had a lot of demons he wasn't sure deserved forgiveness.

"Roy," Olivier called, seeing that he was too quiet. He looked at her. "Why did you want to get Riza transferred when she's clearly against it? Are you punishing her for agreeing to participate?"

"No!" Roy exclaimed offended.

" _Are you sure_?" she insisted. "Because the last time we talked about the research, you called it, and I quote, 'a desperate move for desperate people to save their asses instead of paying for their crimes'."

"That's not it!" he said rubbing his face frustrated. "Damn it. I've had the transfer papers since before Remi was born!"

Well, that was brand new information. Olivier raised an eyebrow at him waiting for him to explain.

"When we started planning all of this, we didn't put any kids in the equation," he told her. "Plan was to get to the top and shape the country into something fair and better, seeking the justice we weren't allowed during King Bradley's fucked up era. It was the Ishval court and certain death. We were okay with that. But then Remi happened and things… changed."

Olivier saw herself looking away from Mustang and staring at the photo on her table, the one of her, Catherine and Anastasia. Anastasia, who had been the reason why she suggested a primary trial in the first place, in the hopes of perhaps… if some part of Olivier's future was settled…

Swallowing dryly, Olivier got up and fixed two drinks, offered one to Mustang, who accepted it and stared at the glass for a while before speaking up again.

"Do you know how many abortions Riza had?" he asked looking up at her and she shook her head no. "Three. Sixteen years we've been together, and she lost three babies. Well… she  _lost_  one, but the other two…"

Olivier understood what he meant, and nodded to let him know that.

"When she realized that she was pregnant again we just…  _knew_  we wanted to make it work somehow. But when Rems was born and we actually had to  _leave her_  east… Ollie, the transfer is for Riza to be with our baby."

"But what did Riza say about it? Because I'm pretty sure she wants to be by your side until you're elected."

"Yes, but wouldn't it be the best if-"

"Mustang, stop being an idiot," Olivier said severely. She realized neither of them had drunk their drinks. "You're tripping with that bullshit. The only thing that is happening here is you trying to stop yourself from being happy, as if you don't deserve it. Didn't you and Hawkeye make the plan to keep your baby safe?" Mustang nodded. "Wouldn't she stay with you and Remi with Amelia until this madness was over?" he nodded again. "Then why the fuck aren't you sticking to the plan? Do the interview, tell your side of the story to Mei, let the court judge your case, and more importantly, go be with your family the way you guys thought it would be."

"Ollie," Roy said putting his glass on her desk and then he saw the photo of Anastasia. He picked it up to give it a good look and after a few seconds he hummed. "I see. You really love her, don't you?"

Olivier could give him a thousand different answers, all of them opened like a folder in her head, but when she opened her mouth what came out was-

"Yes."

Roy nodded somberly, put the photo back in place, and then fixed the frame he had given to her just last week, so she could always look at the face of the baby girl that had no blood connection with her at all and yet insisted on calling her 'Aunty'.

"Thank you, Ollie," he said standing up and bowing in respect before he headed to the door.

She watched him go with a feeling that perhaps that conversation should have been much longer but somehow the message came across, and he was gone too fast for her to guarantee him that she  _would_  get them that right of being able to love who they wanted to love. She would, whatever the cost.

[...]

The best part of being friends with the Fuhrer of Amestris was that Roy could manage to do some things his own way with little consequences, like leaving east in the middle of the week to "solve problems" when in fact he was on to a personal quest. Not everyone knew what he was up to most of the time, and he did have a fame of climbing the ladder a couple steps at times, but nothing mattered more than his results.

And his result was this – that Roy would go to Rheos Falls with an envelope filled with papers, and he'd drive to the outskirts of the city to solve some problems. Only those were some  _personal_  problems that needed solving. But more importantly, the best of rewards would be waiting for him in the Grumman estate.

"Daddy!" Remi exclaimed as soon as he showed up at the door of the playroom, and she ran to his arms immediately forgetting all the toys around her. Roy dropped everything to hold her.

"Hi, Remi-love," he said breathing in her scent. She was smelling fancy, what with spending the past couple of weeks at that fancy house, and her small arms held him tight around his neck. "Hey, I missed you, baby."

"You gone, daddy," she said with a small sob and he held her closer.

"I'm sorry, love, daddy is so, so sorry, but I'll make it up to you," Roy guaranteed. Remi just snuggled closer to him, her face against his neck. "What about we go over there to play a little? What were you playing with? Aunt Ollie's bear?"

"No," Remi said and he frowned, he could see the bear from where he was standing.

"No?"

"Don't wanna play," she told him shaking her head.

"You don't want to play? Why not?"

"I'm tired of play," she told him, but he could tell she was lying. Her fists were little balls holding on to his shirt. She missed him.

"Okay, baby," Roy said softly entering in the room.

There was a bench by the window, and even if it was almost officially winter, he had managed to arrive when there still was some light outside, so he sat down with his daughter in his arms caressing her soft black hair. Her hold softened around him, but she still held on to him, now resting her head against his chest. Roy kissed the top of her head feeling a strange satisfaction settle inside him. It was always incredible to be able to have these moments with Remi.

He looked up to the door after a while of watching the workers go about the greying garden in the back yard and there was someone standing there, her posture relaxed enough to not look so military, but still too tense for him to feel comfortable. Riza.

"We'll talk later, okay?" he said and she shrugged and then left.

All the way through dinner, Remi didn't let go of him. Roy had to give her her bath, change her into her pajamas, comb her hair. It was okay, he liked to do those things. Remi constantly found ways to be glued to her father – sometimes holding on to the leg of his pants, sometimes asking for piggyback rides. She slept in his arms halfway through Grumman's radio novella and Roy tucked her in her bed, warm and cozy, precious little thing.

Before going back to the living room, Roy went to the bedroom with the intention of getting the envelope with the papers first, but he didn't need to go beyond there to talk to Riza – she was waiting for him, sitting down on the trunk by the foot of the bed, the papers out of the envelope and on top of the table, waiting. As soon as the door was closed, she spoke up.

"You don't have the right to transfer me," she said coldly and right away and Roy flinched.

"I… kind of do," he said and she glared at him, destroying all of his bravado. "I'm your superior officer."

"Fuck that," Riza replied standing up. "You don't get to make choices for me. You promised me you'd never make choices for me!"

"I know!" Roy said quickly, getting closer to the table. "But if you come to Rheos, you can be closer to Remi, that was what I w-"

"I don't care what you were thinking, that's not what we agreed on," she interrupted him.

"Riza-"

"You think I don't want to be with Remi?" she asked stepping in his direction so fiercely he imagined she could crack the floor just with her presence.

"No!"

"It physically  _pains_  me to leave her, Roy, but I do it anyway, because we  _agreed_ , one step at a time," Riza told him, her voice tight and piercing. "You're not helping me, Roy!"

"Riza-"

"I can't believe you came all the way here to make me go through this bullsh-"

"Riza," Roy interrupted her more firmly, taking the papers from the table and showing it to her, making her stop starring at him. Roy stepped towards her, both hands holding the papers. "That's not why I came."

"Why are you here, then?" she asked.

"I came because," Roy said and ripped the papers in two, making Riza's jaw drop slightly. "I love you. And I was wrong. And I can't do this without you." He clapped his hands and the ripped paper became dust, falling down to the floor. Roy stepped over it reaching out to Riza, glad to see that she wasn't walking away from him. "Please, forgive me?"

"Are you sure you're not only doing this because Havoc has other priorities now and there's no one else to watch your back?"

"I'm sure."

Riza swallowed.

"What was that first thing you said?" she asked and he frowned.

"I love you?" she nodded.

"Say it again."

"Did you ever doubt me?"

"Say it again."

"Riza Hawkeye," Roy said pulling her close to him. "I love you. I've loved you from the first moment I saw you, skinny twelve year old handling a rifle almost bigger than her like a pro, blossoming fourteen year old shopping for her dad, relieved eighteen year old with the world on her shoulders. The bravest soldier, most loyal person I've ever met. The mother of my daughter. 'Love' is not a sufficient word to descr-"

He was interrupted by Riza's lips suddenly against his, and gladly his arms went around her waist bringing her closer to him, one of his hands going down the small of her back, the other up between her shoulder blades as her fingers tangled in his hair.

Roy breathed in her lovely scent. Riza wasn't one for strong perfumes, but somehow, differently from their daughter, she still smelled like the Cherry Route, fresh and earthy, lovely as only she could be.

How could he ever let her go?

[...]

"Now that you home, Daddy," Remi said the next day. She had replaced Roy for the grizzly bear Olivier had given to her, but she remained by his side from the moment she woke up. "We go back to the farm?"

"Not so fast, monkey," Riza answered her, for Roy had his mouth full of homemade bread and blackberry jam. "I'm sure your Aunt Mel would like to enjoy a few more days with her new boyfriend."

Roy just humpfed, surely playing his part as big brother. Sitting next to him, Riza felt complete again, her love for him just as big and indescribable as his. It felt nice, and she couldn't wait to get back to work.

Speaking of…

"I heard you've been a little mean to Jean," Riza said casually, cutting a slice of bread for her and adding a fine layer of butter on it. It melted immediately.

"Mean to Uncle Jean?" Remi exclaimed with shocked wide eyes to her father. "Daddy, no!"

"I haven't-"

"Just a little mean?" Riza poked and Roy shrugged avoiding eye contact.

"He's freaking out, Riza," Roy justified. "I can't have him freaking out."

"Of course he's freaking out, he's about to have not one, but two babies at once! Wouldn't you be freaking out?" she didn't leave space for him to answer. "But you're right, you can't," she agreed. "That's why you should make it easier for him."

Roy narrowed his eyes at her.

"You have an idea."

Riza smiled.

"I have an idea, yes."

Roy took her hand in his and kissed her fingers tenderly.

"You're the best."

"I know," Riza said and took a bite of her bread, drank some tea. "Don't ever forget it."

And she was sure he wouldn't.


End file.
